Post by collectcall on Jan 7, 2010 16:52:09 GMT -5
I found this fascinating excerpt from one of my text books and thinks its a great idea to entertain:
"Albert Ellis is best know as the psychologist who developed a cognitive theory of emotional problems called rational-emotive theory, as well as a form of therapy based on this theory. According to Ellis's theory... emotional problems are the result of irrational beliefs. In rational emotive therapy, therapists confront clients with their irrational beliefs in an attempt to change those beliefs.
What most people don't know about Albert Ellis is that he suffered from a fear of public speaking that was so severe that it could have prevented his career... he devised methods for treating himself that hadn't been discovered by psychologists at the time bt now are part of many therapists tool kit:
At 19, Ellis became active in a political group but was hampered by his terror of public speaking. Confronting his worst demons in the first of many 'shame attacking' exercises he would devise, Ellis repeatedly forced himself to speak up in any political context that would permit it. "Without calling it that, I was doing early desensitization on myself", he says. "Instead of just getting good at this, I found I was very good at it. And now you can't keep me away from a public platform." After mastering his fear of public speaking, Ellis decided to work on the terrors of more private communication. " I was always... interested in women," he says "I would see them and flirt and exchange glances, but I always made excuses not to talk to them and was terrified of being rejected. Since I lived near The New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx, I decided to attack my fear and shame with an exercise in the park. I vowed that whenever i saw a reasonably attractive woman up to the age of 35, rather than sitting a bench away as I normally would, I would sit next to her with the specific goal of pening a conversation within one minute. I sat next to 130 consecutive women who fit my criteria. Thirty of the women got up and wlaked away, but about 100 spoke to me - about their knitting, the birds, a book, whatever. I made only one date out of all these contacts - and she stood me up. According to learning theory and strict behaviour therapy, my lack of rewards should have extinguished my efforts to meet women. But I realized that throughout thise exercise no one vomited, no one called a cop, and I didnt die. THe process of trying new behaviours and understanding what happened in the real world instead of in my imagination led me to overcome my fear of speaking to women."
"Albert Ellis is best know as the psychologist who developed a cognitive theory of emotional problems called rational-emotive theory, as well as a form of therapy based on this theory. According to Ellis's theory... emotional problems are the result of irrational beliefs. In rational emotive therapy, therapists confront clients with their irrational beliefs in an attempt to change those beliefs.
What most people don't know about Albert Ellis is that he suffered from a fear of public speaking that was so severe that it could have prevented his career... he devised methods for treating himself that hadn't been discovered by psychologists at the time bt now are part of many therapists tool kit:
At 19, Ellis became active in a political group but was hampered by his terror of public speaking. Confronting his worst demons in the first of many 'shame attacking' exercises he would devise, Ellis repeatedly forced himself to speak up in any political context that would permit it. "Without calling it that, I was doing early desensitization on myself", he says. "Instead of just getting good at this, I found I was very good at it. And now you can't keep me away from a public platform." After mastering his fear of public speaking, Ellis decided to work on the terrors of more private communication. " I was always... interested in women," he says "I would see them and flirt and exchange glances, but I always made excuses not to talk to them and was terrified of being rejected. Since I lived near The New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx, I decided to attack my fear and shame with an exercise in the park. I vowed that whenever i saw a reasonably attractive woman up to the age of 35, rather than sitting a bench away as I normally would, I would sit next to her with the specific goal of pening a conversation within one minute. I sat next to 130 consecutive women who fit my criteria. Thirty of the women got up and wlaked away, but about 100 spoke to me - about their knitting, the birds, a book, whatever. I made only one date out of all these contacts - and she stood me up. According to learning theory and strict behaviour therapy, my lack of rewards should have extinguished my efforts to meet women. But I realized that throughout thise exercise no one vomited, no one called a cop, and I didnt die. THe process of trying new behaviours and understanding what happened in the real world instead of in my imagination led me to overcome my fear of speaking to women."
