Feeling Better, Getting Better, Staying Better : Profound Self-Help Therapy For Your Emotions [Paperback]

Albert Ellis (Author)

Book Description

Series: Mental Health | Publication Date: June 1, 2001

"Feeling better," says Dr. Albert Ellis, "is crucial to successful therapy. Getting better is even more important." The most well-known and highly respected psychotherapist of our time offers a "three-pronged" system for maintaining -- or regaining -- emotional health. FEELING BETTER, GETTING BETTER, STAYING BETTER presents the author's 50 years of psychotherapy experience and wisdom in a practical guide for the rest of us. Healthy thinking, healthy emotions, and healthy behavior are explained, with detailed examples and procedures for building lasting emotional well-being.

Features include:
--Practical advice from the most well-known psychologist of our time
--Helpful exercises, "how-to" procedures, expert guidance
--Distills a half-century of wisdom about human behavior into a concise manual
--Reader-friendly, warm, down-to-earth style

FEELING BETTER, GETTING BETTER, STAYING BETTER is especially helpful to:
--Individuals who are hurting emotionally and want to "get better"
--Anyone who wants to learn how to maintain emotional health
--Psychotherapy clients who want to enhance the effectiveness of therapy
--Serious readers of self-help and self-improvement
--Psychologists, divorce counselors, marriage and family therapists

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

As the inventor of Rational-Emotive Psychotherapy (RET) more commonly known as Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy Ellis is generally considered the most influential living psychoanalyst. He argues that emotions that bother us anxiety, depression, guilt, anger are based on our thoughts about events that happen to us, not on the events themselves, and that we can systematically work to change these cognitive responses. This is the basis of most current short-term therapy and is the only approach that has been scientifically tested and found actually to help patients. One would naturally expect to welcome any self-help book written by such an important thinker. Unfortunately, this particular title doesn't deliver the goods, the main problem being that it is extremely repetitive. The three sections, "Feeling Better," "Getting Better," and "Staying Better," are essentially repetitions, reiterating the message that other approaches (e.g., meditation, religious faith, the quest for achievement) are palliatives, while RET will lead to lasting improvements. Perhaps the problem is that this book is aimed at too general an audience anyone with any kind of disturbing emotions. Libraries are better served by titles that explain cognitive-behavioral techniques for use with specific complaints, e.g., Joseph J. Luciani's Self-Coaching: How To Heal Anxiety and Depression (Wiley, 2001) and Fred Penzel's Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders: A Complete Guide to Getting Well and Staying Well (Oxford Univ., 2000). Mary Ann Hughes, Neill P.L., Pullman, WA
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

...the author is still a force to be reckoned with in... field of psychotherapy and education for mental health. -- ForeWord Magazine

Ellis' ideas for fighting everyday frustration are often quite wonderful... There's lots of great information here... -- INFODAD.COM

I find the book useful, insightful, and even fun, and do recommend it... -- Betty Street, MSSW, LCSW NASW Mississippi Chapter Newsletter

The well-known, highly respected psychotherapist explains healthy thinking, healthy emotions, healthy behavior. Detailed examples for building lasting emotional well-being. -- NAPRA ReView

This book is highly recommended. --Carolyn Johnson, M.S.W., ABIL Newsletter

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Impact Publishers, Inc. (June 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1886230358
• ISBN-13: 978-1886230354
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #106,172 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

(1913-2007) Albert Ellis held M.A and Ph.D. degrees in Clinical Psychology from Columbia University. He was the founder of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT), the pioneering form of the modern Cognitive Behavior therapies. He was the president of the Albert Ellis Institute in New York, where he practiced individual and group psychotherapy, supervised and trained psychotherapists, and presented many talks and workshops at the Institute and throughout the world. He published over seven hundred articles and more than sixty books on psychotherapy, marital and family therapy, and sex therapy.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Listen to the Old Fox, July 30, 2002

By 

Mike Finn (New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Feeling Better, Getting Better, Staying Better : Profound Self-Help Therapy For Your Emotions (Paperback)

In this book, Al Ellis tells you everything you need to achieve long-term freedom from emotional upset. He explains why certain modes of therapy are ineffective and counter-productive. Even if they do no harm, they do not deliver the help you need, as opposed to more efficacious modes of therapy, such as REBT (Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy) and Cognitive Therapy. He distinguishes between merely palliative techniques, like Yoga and Meditation, which help you feel better, but do not lead to lasting improvement, and those which help you get better and stay better.

Ellis makes no bones about the fact that it is often difficult to achieve the changes you want to make - but that's no reason for not doing so!

Having tried other therapeutic methods, until I discovered Dr. Ellis at one of his legendary Friday night workshops, I can tell you that if you stick to the principles laid out in this book, you will be the better for it.

35 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Principles of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy, April 17, 2002

By 

Andreas Fellner "afellner" (München) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Feeling Better, Getting Better, Staying Better : Profound Self-Help Therapy For Your Emotions (Paperback)

In this book, Ellis shows the interested reader how Rational Emotive Therapy works, what the underlying philosphy is, and - most importantly - what you can do to get yourself out of emotional difficulties.
He emphasizes not only the aspect of feeling better, which many clients can more or less easily do (e.g. by exercising, meditating or distracting oneself from difficult feelings and situations). It is much more important to actually get better and permanently stay better. Ellis shows how you can achieve the kind of deep restructruring of your basic philosphies of life. He specifically recommends the use of the following techniques:
- Logical Disputing, e.g.: does it really follow that I am a worm if I am acting wormily?
- Realistic Disputing: Where is the evicence for my absolutist belief?
- Pragmatic Disputing: making cost-benefit ratios of short and long term benefits of my behavior and thinking patterns

To effectively dispute your irrational beliefs, you better dispute them cognitively, emotionally and behaviorally.
What I as a psychologist especially liked about this new book, are Ellis' exemplary disputations of low frustration tolerance, self-downing and other downing. This can help clients considerably to apply the ideas to their real life problems.
A good book to use for bibliotherapy!

16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A recommended supplement to a professional care, January 12, 2002

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Feeling Better, Getting Better, Staying Better : Profound Self-Help Therapy For Your Emotions (Paperback)

Feeling Better, Getting Better, Staying Better: Profound Self-Help Therapy For Your Emotions is a psychological self-help book with a wealth of advice on how to improve one's physical health by harnessing the power of one's emotional state. Chapters discuss such practical methods for improving one's attitude and therefore health such as thinking, philosophizing, emoting, and engaging in positive activities. A highly recommended addition to any personal self-help reading list, Feeling Better, Getting Better, Staying Better is not a substitute for seeing a therapist or counselor, but rather a recommended supplement to a professional care in order to help the reader respond more effectively to treatment.