Managing Low Self Esteem

Managing Low Self Esteem charts Windy Dryden's work in running brief, structured, educationally-orientated, self-acceptance groups. The book is based on the principles of Rational Emotive Behaviour - an approach to counselling and psychotherapy. This approach has a philosophical position in the self which stresses a person's uniqueness, humanity, complexity and fallibility. In this way, it advocates self-acceptance rather than self-esteem. It also argues that this position can be taught and learned in a short peiod of time. Through detailed session reviews, the book shows how unconditional self-acceptance can be taught not only to psychotherapy clients, but to members of the general public. The situational ABCDE model of REBT

Low self-esteem and the REBT view of unconditional self-acceptance

Running self-acceptance groups: the role of the REBT therapist

Setting up a self-acceptance group

Why self-acceptance and not self-esteem?

Specifying target problems and setting goals

Teaching group members how to assess specific examples of their target problems

Questioning demands, self-depreciation beliefs, and their healthy alternatives

Explaining the process of belief change and teaching the rational portfolio method

Teaching the zigzag technique

Three emotive techniques to facilitate change

The conjoint use of cognitive and behavioural techniques

More behavioural-cognitive tasks and shame-attacking exercises

Distorted inferences : how to challenge these products of irrational beliefs

Ending, evaluation, and beyond

Windy Dryden, BSc, DipPsych, MSc, PhD, CPsychol, is Professor of Counselling at Goldsmiths College, University of London. He is the editor or author of over 125 books in the area of counselling and psychotherapy. His primary interests are rational emotive behaviour therapy and disseminating its theory and techniques to the general public, through writing short, accessible, self-help books.