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Decoding Unconditional Self-Acceptance: A Qualitative Report

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Abstract

Unconditional self-acceptance (USA) is a philosophy practiced to avoid the consequences of self-esteem in Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT). It is considered to be one of the determinants of psychological wellbeing. Despite its importance, it is one of the least studied constructs in psychological research. The literature on USA is focused on examining its relationship with various psychological symptoms and in relation to other psychotherapeutic approaches. However, there is little research evidence to understand the construct. To fill this gap, the present study aims to bring more clarity to the existing definition of USA by understanding its nature. The present study is a qualitative study and used an interview technique to collect data. For this purpose, ten mental health professionals were selected through purposive sampling. A semi-structured questionnaire was used for the interview. The interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed. Thematic analysis and coding techniques were used to analyze the data. Self-awareness, a positive view toward oneself and others, and social comparison were identified as important aspects of USA. Moreover, the current paper brought more clarity to the construct USA by proposing the nature of USA.

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Data Availability

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank all of the participants for their valuable time and for sharing their knowledge and experience with us.

Funding

This work is a part of the doctoral work carried out with financial support from the respective institute.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Humanities and Social Sciences, National Institute of Science Education and Research, An OCC of Homi Bhabha National Institute, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, 752050, India

    Suchismita Pramanik & Rooplekha Khuntia

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  1. Suchismita Pramanik
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  2. Rooplekha Khuntia
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Contributions

Both authors contributed to the study’s conception and design. Material preparation and data analysis were done by Suchismita Pramanik and Dr. Rooplekha Khuntia. Data collection and transcription were performed by Suchismita Pramanik. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Suchismita Pramanik. Review and editing were done by Dr. Rooplekha Khuntia. Both authors have read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Rooplekha Khuntia.

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The present work has been approved by the Institutional Ethics Committee for Human Research (NISER/IEC/2021-10), National Institute of Science Education and Research.

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Pramanik, S., Khuntia, R. Decoding Unconditional Self-Acceptance: A Qualitative Report. J Rat-Emo Cognitive-Behav Ther 41, 932–949 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10942-023-00517-y

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