According to the ABC theory of Rational-Emotive Therapy (RET) that I (AE) originated in 1955, and according to the other cognitive-behavioral therapies that followed RET, this is what usually occurs when you make yourself neurotic. That is, when you make yourself anxious, depressed, enraged, self-hating, phobic, or addicted. You take your preferences and desires for healthy Goals (such as success, approval, comfort, and pleasure) and you turn them into strong, rigid shoulds, oughts, musts, and commands. Like the rest of us, you are fallible and imperfect. Because others and world conditions often thwart your grandiose musts, you make yourself needlessly miserable when you devoutly believe a must. In RET we coined the term musturbation to highlight humorously this un-humorous process by which you make yourself miserable. An old saying in RET is “Musturbation leads to self-abuse.”