Product Description

Many psychologists preach the importance of self-esteem, but on closer analysis the meaning of self-esteem often amounts to little more than basing our sense of self-worth on the success of our achievements or relationships. In this insightful exploration of true self-acceptance, Albert Ellis criticizes the traditional definition of self-esteem, calling it conditional self-acceptance—i.e., we feel good about ourselves only on condition that we fulfill certain ambitions and personal desires. Ellis proposes instead Unconditional Self-Acceptance (U.S.A.)—learning to appreciate our unique personalities no matter what good or bad actions we do or how successful our relationships turn out to be. This more realistic approach, Ellis points out, helps us to avoid the common pitfall of failing to live up to our (often unrealistic) expectations and the consequent feelings of self-denigration, low esteem, and depression, which impede our ability to tackle life’s challenges.

Ellis provides a historical review of the concepts of self-esteem and self-acceptance, examining the thinking of great religious teachers, philosophers, and psychologists—including Lao Tsu, Jesus, Spinoza, Nietzsche, Kierkegaard, Buber, Heidegger, Sartre, Tillich, D.T. Suzuki, the Dalai Lama, Carl Rogers, and Nathaniel Branden, among others. 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, through Unconditional Other-Acceptance (UOA) and a total philosophy of life anchored in Unconditional Life-Acceptance (ULA).

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #421016 in Books
• Published on: 2005-10-03
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 344 pages

About the Author
Albert Ellis, Ph.D. (New York, NY), the author of more than seventy-five books, including many popular best-sellers, is the president of The Albert Ellis Institute for Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy. He has practiced psychotherapy, marriage and family counseling, and sex therapy for over sixty years. Other books by Albert Ellis available from Prometheus Books are: The Road to Tolerance, Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy: It Works for Me—It Can Work for You; Overcoming Destructive Beliefs, Feelings, and Behaviors: New Directions for Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy; and (with Raymond J. Yeager) Why Some Therapies Don’t Work: The Dangers of Transpersonal Psychology.

Customer Reviews

The mantra of "Self Esteem"
Albert Ellis performs a valuable service with this book. The mantra of "Self Esteem" has indeed become pervasive in today's society, but not due to Dr. Ellis. We are told that some children don't do well in school because they suffer from "low self-esteem," that people commit crimes for the same reason, and that if we can only figure out how to universally raise people's self esteem, all societal problems will vanish.

Last night I was reading the old book "Do What You Love, the Money Will Follow" (not written by Dr. Ellis). Good title, but by the second chapter, the author starts implying that if we're not in work we love, it must be because we suffer from (you guessed it) "low self-esteem." The rest of the book is devoted to telling us how we can supposedly "raise" it.

Ellis' point is that "self-esteem" is NOT the root cause of all mental problems, contrary to what many self-help "experts" tell us. In fact, "self-esteem" can even be counter-productive. If you have high self-esteem, for example, you may think that you "deserve" to be happy, satisfied and fulfilled no matter what job you have or what circumstances you are in. Dr. Ellis' point is that we must get away from obsessing over "self-esteem," both as individuals and as a society, and start dealing with the real false beliefs that cause us distress.

This book is not so much about not trying to achieve significant things in life as it is about not blaming ourselves when we fail, as we occasionally will.

Just what is self-esteem?
Just what is self-esteem? Many believe we must have it; but here's a famous psychologist to say it's all a myth, and he bases his contention on the thoughts of some of the finest religious thinkers and philosophers of our times. Instead Albert Ellis in THE MYTH OF SELF-ESTEEM (1591023548 ) explains his Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy as an alternative to achieve unconditional self-acceptance, using exercises which promote such acceptance over the more commonly held self-esteem.

Message ruined by messenger...Get over yourself, Dr. Ellis!
This book continues on from earlier works by attempting to further define and strengthen arguments for accepting 'USA'. I say 'attempt'. The approach in this book seems to be going through one philosophical or religious stance after another, and judging it based on the 'USA' concept. Ellis doesn't simply evaluate these beliefs on the support of 'USA' alone. It's whether or not they practice HIS version of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy. He even evaluates other doctors, such as David Burns (Feeling Good) on if they support HIS interpretation of USA! And you'd better not believe in God. Ellis seems to make the very idea of a belief in God irrational. And you'd have thought the whole field of CBT, or REBT, originated entirely from him, rather than from a number of different individuals at different times. He can't stop talking about himself, or how much better his theories are from everybody else's. Oh, and calling your potential readers and clients 'whiners' at every breath isn't very compassionate, either.