Description

by Albert Ellis, Ph.D.

In “How to Deal with Difficult People,” Dr. Ellis describes the difficult people that we have to deal with in life, and explains how to manage them. The listener learns that when they become enraged and upset by difficult people, they are letting these difficult people upset them. The ABC’s of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) are reviewed. The activating event (A) being the difficult person, and unhealthy emotional consequence (C) being intense anger or sadness. Dr. Ellis explains that the C is the listener’s own problem (not the difficult person’s) because it stems from irrational beliefs (B). Demanding that difficult people must not be the way they are, and it is awful that they are this way lead the listener to feeling angry. In addition, the listener learns how to dispute their irrational beliefs, and unconditionally accept the difficult person as a fallible human.