The method of rational-emotive psychotherapy was proposed by Albert Ellis in 1955. Its main essence is aimed at changing a person's thoughts about himself, others and society. According to this theory, neurosis, depression, anxiety, feelings of guilt and other similar psychological problems are not caused by factors and situations that cause psychological injury, but by a person's personal attitude and thoughts towards these factors and situations. For example, someone hurt you and you lost your mood. In this situation, you consider yourself to be guilty, not that person. So, you are worthy of criticism, he put you on this tune. Actually it is not. The fault is not in you, but in the person who criticized you or in the situation where criticism was created. A. Ellis writes: "If a person has such false ideas about himself for a long time, he develops various mental and emotional disorders, including depression." Ellis introduces the following rule: "It's not you who is to blame, it's others."

Here are some excerpts from Ellis' works. The events in the environment that break your nerves and force you to emotional stress are not aimed at you, they happen in their own way. The accusations and insults against you, no matter who they are, do not really represent who you really are, it is that person's personal opinion. He has this opinion based on his worldview and his attitude towards you. In fact, it is not!

According to Ellis, trying to strictly adhere to the following 3 rules always makes a person anxious: 1) making harsh demands on himself ("I must be like this, I must be like this"); 2) others make harsh demands on him ("you should be like that, you should be like that"); 3) he makes harsh demands on others ("people should be like that, it should be like that"). This is the principle of "Three Needs" - the source of anxiety and depression.

Continuing to follow the rule of "three must" forms the following thoughts about yourself and creates a criterion for anxiety:

I have to make such actions that others will recognize me! Otherwise I am nothing!
The way I want, the people around me should accept me as I am! Otherwise, they are a bad person and doomed to any punishment!
I should have what I want, when I want it, and where I want it! I can't stand things I don't need!
Rational-emotive therapy is aimed at freeing a person from stereotyped thoughts about himself and correcting the behavior that has changed due to this. In the method of rational-emotive therapy, as in cognitive-behavioral therapy, thoughts and behavior are corrected in parallel. However, the tactics are different. In this method, homework is also given, it is helped when it is difficult to do it, and if the tasks are completed, it is encouraged. However, during psychotherapeutic procedures, the psychotherapist himself should not apply the "Should" style to his client.