Myth of Self-esteem

How Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy Can Change Your Life Forever

Albert Ellis

• Publisher: Prometheus
• Year: 2010
• eBook ISBN: 9781615920624
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: Applied Psychology
• Index: Psychology

In this illuminating book, Ellis provides a lively and insightful explanation of the differences between self-esteem and self-acceptance. Emphasizing the importance of self-acceptance, he examines this theme in the thinking of great religious teachers, philosophers, and psychologists. He then provides exercises for training oneself to change self-defeating habits to the healthy, positive approach of self-acceptance. These include specific thinking techniques as well as emotive and behavioral exercises.He concludes by stressing that unconditional self-acceptance is the basis for establishing healthy relationships with others, along with unconditional other-acceptance and a total philosophy of life anchored in unconditional life-acceptance.

Table of contents

• Acknowledgments
• Introduction: Is Self-Esteem a Sickness?
• 1 Nathaniel Branden and Self-Esteem
• 2 Carl Rogers and Unconditional Positive Regard
• 3 Albert Ellis and Unconditional Self-Acceptance
• 4 Psychotherapy and the Value of a Human
• 5 REBT Diminishes Much of the Human Ego
• 6 Some Definitions of Conditional Self-Esteem and Unconditional Self-Acceptance
• 7 The Advantages and Disadvantages of Self-Esteem or Conditional Self-Acceptance
• 8 The Proverbs of Solomon and Self-Esteem
• 9 Lao Tsu and the Philosophy of Humility, Moderation, and Unconditional Acceptance
• 10 Jesus of Nazareth and Self-Esteem
• 11 Spinoza and Nietzsche and Self-Esteem
• 12 Søren Kierkegaard and Self-Esteem
• 13 Martin Buber and Self- and Other-Acceptance
• 14 Martin Heidegger and Self-Esteem
• 15 Jean-Paul Sartre and Self-Esteem
• 16 Paul Tillich and Unconditional Self-Acceptance and Unconditional Other-Acceptance
• 17 Self-Esteem and the Practice of Tibetan Buddhism by the Dalai Lama, Howard Cutler, and H. Gunaratana Manhathera
• 18 D. T. Suzuki’s Zen Buddhism and the Philosophy of Acceptance
• 19 Windy Dryden, Michael Neenan, and Paul Hauck on Unconditional Acceptance
• 20 Self-Esteem and Self-Acceptance in the Writings of Aaron Beck, David Burns, and William Glasser
• 21 Stephen Hayes and Other Cognitive Behavior Therapists Who Endorse Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
• 22 Existential Anxiety and How to Defeat It with the Courage to Be
• 23 Taking the Road Less Traveled to Unconditional Self-Acceptance
• 24 Specific Thinking, Plotting, Planning, and Scheming Techniques of Achieving Unconditional Self-Acceptance
• 25 Emotive-Evocative and Experiential Exercises for Achieving Unconditional Self-Acceptance
• 26 Behavioral Exercises for Achieving Unconditional Self-Acceptance
• 27 Summary and Conclusion
• Appendix 1: Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy for Beginners
• Appendix 2: The Role of Irrational Beliefs in Perfectionism
• Appendix 3: Showing People that They Are Not Worthless Individuals
• Appendix 4: Comments on David Mills’s “Overcoming Self-Esteem”
• Appendix 5: Intellectual Fascism
• Selected References
• About the Author