Making Peace with Imperfection
Demanding perfection in everything you do can create a life of stress, worry, and overload. With this essential self-help guide, you’ll learn to escape the perfectionism trap and cultivate unconditional self-acceptance in an imperfect world.
Are you a perfectionist? Do you wear this title like a badge of honor, even though it creates needless stress in your life? Ironically, the stress you create by demanding perfection from yourself and others can actually make it harder to achieve your goals in the long run. It can also alienate you from friends, family, and coworkers. So, how can you escape the perfectionism trap and start living a life of self-compassion?
In this informative and practical resource, author Elliot Cohen reveals the eleven types of perfectionism, and gives you the tools and skills you need to move past this distressing mind set before it leads to chronic stress, anxiety, anger, or even depression. Using strategies grounded in evidence-based rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT), you’ll discover how your perfectionism is actually a result of irrational beliefs, learn to challenge these beliefs, and replace negative thoughts with compassionate ones.
Being a perfectionist can affect virtually every decision you make, and every action you take—leading to a life of perpetual stress. This book can help you put a stop to the absolutist thinking behind your perfectionism and take steps toward a calmer, more balanced way of being.
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My Account Info
Manage your Membership information, email preferences, and more.
Journals
Membership in ABCT grants you access to three journals.
Convention
We are now accepting Abstract submissions for Continuing Education Ticketed Sessions at the 2024 ABCT Convention in Philadelphia, PA.
Editorial Reviews
“In this highly readable, down-to-earth, and practical self-help book, Elliot Cohen skillfully guides the reader through the process of ridding the emotional, behavioral, and interpersonal ravages of perfectionism. Not a one-step-fits-all approach, this book lays out ten discreet varieties of perfectionism for an individual to self-diagnose, and shows how to use a straightforward, six-step method to bring both relief and peace of mind. As a practicing rational emotive behavior therapist, I will make sure to keep copies available for all my patients.”
—Russell Grieger, PhD, clinical psychologist in private practice, organizational consultant, and adjunct professor at the University of Virginia; author of The Couples Therapy Companion, Developing Unrelenting Drive, Dedication, and Determination, and the forthcoming The Serious Business of Being Happy
“Elliot Cohen continues to prove to be the heir to Albert Ellis. In this accessible and instructive new book, Cohen provides hope to those struggling with perfectionism. In extending his logic-based therapeutic approach to combating various forms of obsessionality and self-defeating thoughts and attitudes, he provides a practical six-step method to overcome perfectionistic tendencies and embrace the courage to be imperfect. A classic self-help guidebook.”
—Jon Mills, PsyD, PhD, ABPP, professor in the department of psychology and psychoanalysis at the Adler Graduate Professional School in Toronto, ON, Canada; and author of Inventing God
“An excellent, exhaustive analysis of perfectionism from the perspective of Albert Ellis’s rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT). Clearly, interestingly, and incisively written, it takes the reader through a guided tour of the various types of perfectionism, the many circumstances under which they occur, their pernicious consequences, and effective strategies for combating them. I highly recommend this book for anyone whose life is diminished by a perfectionistic outlook. You may be surprised by the depth and comprehensiveness of its presence in your own daily functioning.”
—Michael R. Edelstein, PhD, clinical psychologist, former training supervisor and fellow of the Albert Ellis Institute, and author of Three Minute Therapy
About the Author(s)
Elliot Cohen
Elliot D. Cohen, PhD, is professor and chair of the department of humanities at Indian River State College, adjunct professor of clinical ethics at the Florida State University College of Medicine, and director of the Logic-Based Therapy & Consultation Institute....
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