Although rational-emotive therapy has been used to treat many different kinds of problems, Ellis admits that his approach is most effective for the treatment of clients with a single major symptom or clients who are only moderately disturbed. In addition, Ellis does advocate rational-emotive therapy for individuals whose patterns of irrational thought are severe, but for such individuals--when they can be helped--therapy is a long-term process. From evaluative studies completed so far, it appears that rational-emotive therapy is especially effective in reducing anxieties resulting from such things as public speaking, relating to others on an individual basis, and facing old age. Other specific applications of rational-emotive therapy include these: * problems of maladjustment, where you have increasing difficulty coping with either an already familiar environment or a situation new to you * marital problems and sexual difficulties * psychosomatic problems * anxiety * depression * problems of criminals and delinquents Individuals who are most effectively treated with forms of cognitive therapy tend to have one or more of these personal characteristics: {145} * They tend to think in very rigid ways. * They are inclined to think in all-black, or all-white terms. They are absolutists who think in terms of _what is right_ and _what is wrong_. Life, for them, is an uncompromising affair. * They are often perfectionists about themselves, so they tend to have unrealistic expectations of others as well. They are idealistic. * Their behavior is frequently uptight, intense, judgmental, and intolerant _or_ shy, self-effacing, and inclined to self-condemnation. * They tend to think that if there is one bad apple, the whole bushel must be rotten. They tend to magnify and exaggerate evils. * They confuse what they would like to have with what they believe they absolutely _need_. They are demanding and exacting. EXISTENTIAL-HUMANISTIC PSYCHOTHERAPY _For individuals who suffer from feelings of acute loneliness and emptiness, who have lost faith in themselves or others, and who tend to be analytical and introverted._ There is no single, well-defined theory accepted by most existential therapists. Instead, existential psychotherapy is a point of view, a general philosophy that attempts to describe what it means to be human and to live meaningfully in the world. There is, nevertheless, a consensus among existential therapists concerning the objectives of the approach. Existential therapy seeks to help clients achieve these goals: * to accept and make constructive use of their own personal _freedom_ * to become _authentic_ individuals, shedding the conventions and conformities that obscure the real persons they are * to establish human relationships based on _honesty_ and _personal integrity_ * to be _fully present_ in the immediacy of the moment {146} * to learn to _accept_ the natural limits of life