Here is a list of the eleven most common rigid, irrational beliefs, which cause neurosis, according to Albert Ellis, the founder of Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy (REBT). Do you hold any of these beliefs too rigidly? Do you know anyone who has problems with the others?
It is a dire necessity for an adult human being to be loved or approved by virtually every significant other person in his community.
One should be thoroughly competent, adequate, and achieving in all possible respects if one is to consider oneself worthwhile.
Certain people are bad, wicked, or villainous and they should be severely blamed and punished for their villainy.
It is awful and catastrophic when things are not the way one would very much like them to be.
Human unhappiness is externally caused and people have little or no ability to control their sorrows and disturbances.
If something is or may be dangerous or fearsome one should be terribly concerned about it and should keep dwelling on the possibility of it occurring.
It is easier to avoid than to face certain life difficulties and self-responsibilities.
One should be dependent on others and one needs someone stronger than oneself on whom to rely.
One’s past history is an all-important determiner of one’s present behaviour and that because something once strongly affected one’s life, it should indefinitely have a similar effect.
One should become quite upset over other people’s problems and disturbances.
There is invariably a right, precise, and perfect solution to human problems and it is catastrophic if this perfect solution is not found.
Always been an admirer of Ellis, on many levels. This is somewhat of a rough list of his, not a formal model, but it's a great reflection of his clinical wisdom, and ten times more insight than most self-help!
It's even more helpful when we consider the rational alternative to each belief. Consider what the (if any) short-term pros versus long-term cons might be for each one. Imagine an "evil" self-hypnosis CD could program you with all these beliefs - a recipe for neurosis, right?
How many of these could be improved by the rational Stoic philosophy that the external event that befalls us ("how the dice fall") is less important, in itself, than how we choose to respond?