How to Stubbornly Refuse to Make Yourself Miserable

Author: Albert Ellis

This book contains a peculiar message, which is that – practically – all human misery and severe emotional disturbances are largely unnecessary, not to mention immoral. "Wait; did you say (immoral)?" When you drive yourself to a severe state of anxiety or depression, you are doing something against your own best interest, and treating yourself unfairly and unjustly. Your disturbance also negatively affects your social group. It contributes to the frustration of your relatives and friends, and to some extent, it contributes to the frustration of your entire society. The cost of driving yourself into panic, rage, or self-pity is enormous; it consists of time and money wasted for nothing, unnecessary effort, needless mental suffering, harm to the happiness of others, and the foolish loss of potential joy during the one life – yes, the one life – that you are unlikely to have again.