Inelegant and Elegant Solutions: A Remedy to Self-Rating and Self-Evaluation
As Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) was formed by the late psychologist Albert Ellis, who reportedly developed the first cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) psychotherapeutic modality in 1955, this blog entry is part of an ongoing series regarding his book, Ask Albert Ellis?: Straight Answers and Sound Advice from America’s Best-Known Psychologist.
REBT has a longstanding foundation within the field of mental, emotional, and behavioral health (collectively “mental health”), offering tools to address many issues. Predominately, it uses the ABC model and unconditional acceptance (UA), related to which Ellis stated (page 17):
I originated the REBT “elegant” solution to this problem of assessing your worth in the 1960s and have taught it to many clients and to many readers of my writings and listeners to my lectures and audio and videotapes. My solution agrees with Korzybski that it really is not legitimate to rate or evaluate your global self at all, and it tells you how to stop doing this.
There are a number of elements from that cited text which may now be useful to explore. For instance, one source states:
Elegant vs. inelegant solutions. Ellis distinguished between inelegant solutions (feeling better by changing the situation) and elegant solutions ([getting] better by changing one’s philosophy about the situation). While both have their place, the elegant solution is more generalizable and enduring.
In common parlance, inelegant is defined as lacking in refinement, grace, or good taste, and elegant is defined as marked by elegance—refined grace or dignified propriety. As these terms regard REBT, inelegant is unsophisticated, and elegant is sophisticated.
Also, a solution regards an act or means of solving a problem—a question raised for inquiry, consideration, or solution, as in an intricate unsettled question that is difficult to deal with. Thus, per REBT, an elegant solution to a problem is a refined method of altering one’s perspective.
In this way, both the ABC model and UA offer a remedy to problems. Although a remedy may be defined as a medicine, application, or treatment that relieves or cures a disease, as it pertains to REBT, it merely refers to something that corrects or counteracts.
Now, consider that the American Psychological Association (APA) defines an elegant solution as “a solution to a question or a problem that achieves the maximally satisfactory effect with minimal effort, materials, or steps.” Unsophisticated solutions are often required for sophisticated problems.
As an example, imagine that you engage in unproductive self-rating, which the APA defines as “the act of reporting on or describing characteristics of oneself.” This practice regards your self-concept, which the APA thusly defines:
[O]ne’s description and evaluation of oneself, including psychological and physical characteristics, qualities, skills, roles and so forth. Self-concepts contribute to the individual’s sense of identity over time. The conscious representation of self-concept is dependent in part on nonconscious schematization of the self (see schema).
Although self-concepts are usually available to some degree to the consciousness, they may be inhibited from representation yet still influence judgment, mood, and behavioral patterns. Also called self-appraisal; self-assessment; self-evaluation; self-rating. See self-image; self-perception.
Suppose that you rate yourself as a “bad person” or as a “worthless” individual. These global ratings of self disregard all other aspects of your self-concept. For example, you may’ve helped a neighbor search for a missing dog. Is that what a “bad” or “worthless” person would do? No.
Taking an elegant solution approach to this matter, you may argue that there’s not a single piece of evidence which would affirm the notion that you aren’t “bad” or “worthless.” Fine. Then, you can elegantly say to yourself, “Even if I don’t like myself, I can accept who and what I am.”
In this way, there’s no use in a self-evaluation. For context, the APA defines an evaluation as “a careful examination or overall appraisal of something, particularly to determine its worth, value, or desirability.” Regarding this matter, one source states:
Self-acceptance is crucial to mental health. The absence of ability to unconditionally accept oneself can lead to a variety of emotional difficulties, including uncontrolled anger and depression.
The person who is caught up in self-evaluation rather than self-acceptance may also be very needy and may devote considerable attention and personal resources to self-aggrandizement in order to compensate for perceived personal deficits. One of the simplest and most natural methods of reducing self-evaluation and replacing it with acceptance is to assume a mindset of mindfulness rather than mindlessness.
Rather than use of inelegant solutions, such as merely talking about how “bad” or “worthless” you believe that you are, a remedy to self-rating and self-evaluation – such as the ABC model or UA – is an elegant solution that fosters unconditional self-acceptance. Accept yourself, not rate or evaluate yourself!
If you’re looking for a provider who tries to work to help understand how thinking impacts physical, mental, emotional, and behavioral elements of your life—helping you to sharpen your critical thinking skills, I invite you to reach out today by using the contact widget on my website.
As a psychotherapist, I’m pleased to try to help people with an assortment of issues ranging from anger (hostility, rage, and aggression) to relational issues, adjustment matters, trauma experience, justice involvement, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, anxiety and depression, and other mood or personality-related matters.
At Hollings Therapy, LLC, serving all of Texas, I aim to treat clients with dignity and respect while offering a multi-lensed approach to the practice of psychotherapy and life coaching. My mission includes: Prioritizing the cognitive and emotive needs of clients, an overall reduction in client suffering, and supporting sustainable growth for the clients I serve. Rather than simply trying to help you to feel better, I want to try to help you get better!
Deric Hollings, LPC, LCSW
Photo credit (edited), Designed by Magnific, fair use
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