Albert Ellis
American clinical psychologist who developed rational emotive behaviour therapy
American clinical psychologist who developed rational therapy in the 1950s as an active alternative to psychoanalysis. It later became rational emotive behaviour therapy, which holds that beliefs about events shape emotional distress. He founded the institute now called the Albert Ellis Institute.
Why this person matters
Ellis's rational therapy, presented in 1955, is an early form of the cognitive and behavioural approaches that later became standard in treatment. Aaron Beck developed a related approach separately, and both drew on Stoic philosophy. Ellis also wrote widely for the public.
Main contributions
Rational emotive behaviour therapy
Ellis presented rational therapy in 1955. It was a more active and directive approach in which therapists helped clients challenge self-defeating beliefs. He published Reason and Emotion in Psychotherapy in 1962 and renamed the system rational emotive behaviour therapy in the mid-1990s.
Institute for Rational Living
In 1959 Ellis founded the nonprofit Institute for Rational Living in New York. The New York State Board of Regents chartered it as a training institute and psychological clinic in 1968. It is now the Albert Ellis Institute.
Public writing
Ellis wrote more than one hundred books, including Sex without Guilt (1958). He worked at the institute until 2005.
Context and limits
Many colleagues censured Ellis in the 1950s, and some demanded stronger evidence than he gave. His obituary noted that Aaron Beck had tested his own approach more rigorously. Ellis's 1965 book Homosexuality: Its Causes and Cure partly treated homosexuality as a pathology to be cured; in 1973 the American Psychiatric Association declared it was not a mental disorder, and in 1976 Ellis said most cases should not be treated. He was also often criticised for his blunt, aggressive style.
In your introductory course
Treatment and therapy.Ellis appears in chapters on treatment as an early figure in cognitive-behavioural approaches. A 1982 survey of clinical psychologists ranked him among the most influential contributors to the field.
Related course reading: Psychology 2e, section 16.2. This is course context rather than a biographical source.
Years of active work
- 1947
He completed a PhD in psychology at Teachers College, Columbia University.
- 1955
He presented rational therapy.
- 1959
He founded the Institute for Rational Living.
- 1962
Reason and Emotion in Psychotherapy was published.
Sources
- Encyclopedia.com, Ellis, Albert 1913 to 2007Reference work. Reference article inspected.
- Wikipedia, Albert EllisReference work. Reference article inspected.