Glossary of Terms
| Action Tendencies | The way we feel like acting. Action tendencies are influenced by the beliefs we hold; they can be self defeating or constructive. |
| Anger | An unhealthy negative emotion provoked by unhealthy beliefs about the breaking of a non moral rule. Its healthy counterpart is annoyance. |
| Anti-awfulising | Negative events are placed on a scale of 0–99.9% badness where 100% bad does not exist, as one can usually think of something worse. |
| Anxiety | An unhealthy negative emotion provoked by unhealthy beliefs about a real or perceived threat. Its healthy negative emotion counterpart is concern. |
| Awfulising | An unrealistic assessment of badness where negative events are viewed or defined as ‘end of the world bad’ or 100% or more bad, e.g. ‘it would be awful if I’m rejected’, ‘it would be the end of the world if I am rejected and therefore I must not be rejected’. |
| Behaviours | Actions we take. We usually behave in accordance with the action tendencies but not always. |
| Belief | A fully evaluative thought that is centrally involved in our emotional experiences. Musts and Preferences, Awfulising and Anti-awfulising, Low Frustration Tolerance and High Frustration Tolerance, Self/Other/World Damning and Self/Other/World Acceptance are evaluative because they point to what we believe is true and accurate. |
| Cognitive Behaviour Therapy | A form of psychotherapy that focuses on two areas: the way that you think (cognitive) and the things that you do (behaviour). The two pioneers of CBT, Albert Ellis and Aaron Beck, shared the view that most emotional problems arise from faulty thinking and that the remedy is to be found in corrective actions. Both the Ellis and Beck approaches concentrate on present problems and present thinking in contrast to the earlier forms of psychotherapy. |
| Cognitive Consequences | The thoughts we have related to the beliefs we hold. Beliefs can be either healthy or unhealthy. |
| Concern | A healthy negative emotion provoked by healthy beliefs about a threat, either perceived or real. It is the healthy counterpart of anxiety. |
| Concern for One’s Relationship | A healthy negative emotion provoked by healthy beliefs about a real or perceived threat to your relationship by a third party. The unhealthy counterpart is jealousy. |
| Depression | An unhealthy negative emotion provoked by unhealthy beliefs about loss or failure. Its healthy counterpart is sadness. |
| Disappointment | A healthy negative emotion provoked by healthy beliefs about being treated insensitively. Its unhealthy counterpart is hurt. |
| Disputing | A process of questioning unhealthy and healthy beliefs against three criteria. Is it consistent with reality? Does it make sense? Does it help? |
| Embarrassment | An unhealthy negative emotion provoked by unhealthy beliefs about something negative being revealed about you, or a group you associate yourself with, and the perceived or real consequential shunning by others. Its healthy counterpart is Regret. |
| Emotional Disturbance | A term to describe an unhealthy negative emotional experience. It is provoked by holding unhealthy beliefs about adverse events. Emotional Disturbance can also be viewed as being emotionally stuck. |
| Emotional Responsibility | The principle that your feelings and reactions are greatly influenced by the attitudes and beliefs that you currently hold as true. |
| Envy | An unhealthy negative emotion provoked by unhealthy beliefs about wanting some possession that someone else has. Its healthy counterpart is healthy envy. |
| Guilt | An unhealthy negative emotion provoked by unhealthy beliefs about you transgressing your own moral rule. Its healthy counterpart is remorse. |
| Healthy Beliefs | Beliefs that are healthy have, at their core, preferences, usually expressed as wants and desires. Preferences, Anti Awfulising, High Frustration Tolerance, Self/Other/World Acceptance are healthy beliefs. They are consistent with reality, logical and promote psychological health. |
| Healthy Envy | A healthy negative emotion provoked by healthy beliefs about wanting a possession that someone else already has. Its unhealthy counterpart is unhealthy envy. |
| Healthy Negative Emotions | Emotions that are experienced when we hold healthy beliefs about negative or adverse events. |
| High Frustration Tolerance (HFT) | A healthy belief about the ability to tolerate frustration or difficulty. |
| Hurt | An unhealthy negative emotion provoked by unhealthy beliefs about being treated insensitively. Its healthy counterpart is sorrow or disappointment. |
| Jealousy | An unhealthy negative emotion provoked by unhealthy beliefs about a real or perceived threat to your relationship by a third party. Its healthy counterpart is concern for one’s relationship. |
| Low Frustration Tolerance (LFT) | An unhealthy belief about your perceived inability to tolerate frustration or difficulty. |
| Negative Emotions | These are the natural emotions we experience in relation to adverse life events, whether real or imaginary, rather than positive emotions. Negative emotions can be healthy or unhealthy. |
| REBT | One of the Cognitive Behaviour Therapies developed by Albert Ellis. |
| Regret | A healthy negative emotion provoked by healthy beliefs about something negative being revealed about you or a group you associate yourself with and the perceived or real consequential shunning by others. Its unhealthy counterpart is shame/embarrassment. |
| Remorse | A healthy negative emotion provoked by healthy beliefs about breaking your own moral code. Its unhealthy counterpart is guilt. |
| Sadness | A healthy negative emotion provoked by healthy beliefs about loss or failure. Its unhealthy counterpart is depression. |
| Self | The total of every conceivable thing about you. This includes all your behaviours since birth, all the emotions you have ever felt, all the thoughts, images, fantasies you have ever had, your values and your psychological and biological makeup. |
| Self/Other/World Damning | It is an unhealthy belief, it means rating the self, another person or the world in a totally negative way based on a condition. For example, ‘if I fail, then I am a total failure’, ‘you are a totally bad person because you acted badly’, ‘the world is a totally awful place because bad things happen’. |
| Self Esteem | The rating or judging of the self. Esteem is from the verb ‘to estimate’. Self esteem can go up and down and is therefore flawed as a concept. |
| Self Worth | The acceptance of the self based on the fact that all human beings are worthwhile just because they exist. It is a form of unconditional positive regard. |
| Shame | An unhealthy negative emotion provoked by unhealthy beliefs about something negative being revealed about you or a group you associate yourself with and the perceived or real consequential shunning by others. Its healthy counterpart is Regret. |
| Unconditional Self/Other/World Acceptance | Unconditional acceptance of self, others or the world is a healthy belief. It means accepting yourself, another or the world as fallible or imperfect. For example, acceptance of self is not dependent on conditions such as approval or love. |
| Unhealthy Beliefs | Have, at their core, explicit or implicit, rigid, powerful demands usually expressed as MUSTs, SHOULDs, HAVE TOs, GOT TOs, e.g. I absolutely must not be rejected. Demands, Awfulising, LFT and Self/Other/World Damning are unhealthy beliefs. They are rigid, inconsistent with reality, illogical and promote psychological disturbance. |