ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author discusses how he works with clients’ extreme attitudes in order to help them develop healthy, realistic and sensible non-extreme attitudes. He agrees with his Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy colleagues that three major extreme attitudes are derived from rigid attitudes and three major non-extreme attitudes are derived from flexible attitudes. He discusses both extreme and non-extreme attitudes. In working with a client’s extreme awfulising and non-extreme non-awfulising attitudes the first stage is to help them see clearly the difference between the two. When a client has a problem for which they seek help, the author assumes that they are facing an adversity they evaluate negatively. When helping a client to consider their awfulising and non-awfulising attitudes from the reality standpoint, the client is asked to consider the reality of how the world works. Clients facing an adversity have the choice of adopting a discomfort tolerance or discomfort intolerance attitude towards it.
