ABSTRACT
The original name for Ellis’s approach, rational-emotive therapy (RET), was based on the premise that most everyday emotional problems and related overt behaviors stem from irrational interpretations that people make of events in their lives. People tend to think in absolute terms such as a student thinking, “I must do well in all my courses.” People tend to overgeneralize, such as a student thinking after getting a poor mark on one exam, “I’ll never be a good student.” People also tend to catastrophize such as telling themselves that things are so horrible they can’t possibly stand it. For example, Jim who slept through his alarm and was going to be late for class, rushed to get ready. He cut himself while shaving and thought, “I’m a walking disaster! I always screw up.” Later, he got caught in a traffic jam. “Why does the worst always happen to me?” He felt angry and frustrated. Ellis considered such self-statements like “I’m a walking disaster,” and “The worst always happens to me” to be at the root of emotional problems (e.g., Jim’s anger and frustration).
