[NYTr] Albert Ellis Dies at 93: Developed Rational Emotiive Behavior Therapy

[nytr at olm.blythe-systems.com]

The New York Times - Jul 25, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/25/nyregion/25ellis.html

Albert Ellis, Influential Psychotherapist, Dies at 93

By MICHAEL T. KAUFMAN

Albert Ellis, whose innovative straight-talk approach to psychotherapy
made him one of the most influential and provocative figures in modern
psychology, died yesterday at his home above the institute he founded
in Manhattan. He was 93.

The cause, after extended illness, was kidney and heart failure, said a
friend and spokeswoman, Gayle Rosellini.

Dr. Ellis (he had a doctorate but not a medical degree) called his
approach rational emotive behavior therapy, or R.E.B.T. Developed in
the 1950s, it challenged the deliberate, slow-moving methodology of
Sigmund Freud, the prevailing psychotherapeutic treatment at the time.

Where the Freudians maintained that a painstaking exploration of
childhood experience was critical to understanding neurosis and curing
it, Dr. Ellis believed in short-term therapy that called on patients to
focus on what was happening in their lives at the moment and to take
immediate action to change their behavior. “Neurosis,” he said, was
“just a high-class word for whining.”

“The trouble with most therapy is that it helps you to feel better,” he
said in a 2004 article in The New York Times. “But you don’t get
better. You have to back it up with action, action, action.”

If his ideas broke with conventions, so did his manner of imparting
them. Irreverent, charismatic, he was called the Lenny Bruce of
psychotherapy. In popular Friday evening seminars that ran for decades,
he counseled, prodded, provoked and entertained groups of 100 or more
students, psychologists and others looking for answers, often lacing
his comments with obscenities for effect.

His basic message was that all people are born with a talent “for
crooked thinking,” or distortions of perception that sabotage their
innate desire for happiness. But he recognized that people also had the
capacity to change themselves. The role of therapists, Dr. Ellis
argued, is to intervene directly, using strategies and homework
exercises to help patients first learn to accept themselves as they are
(unconditional self-acceptance, he called it) and then to retrain
themselves to avoid destructive emotions — to “establish new ways of
being and behaving,” as he put it.

His methods, along with those of Dr. Aaron T. Beck, a psychiatrist who
was working independently, provided the basis for what is known as
cognitive behavior therapy. A form of talk therapy, it has been shown
to be at least as effective as drugs for many people in treating
anxiety, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder and other conditions.

His admirers credited Dr. Ellis with adapting the “talking cure,” the
dominant therapy in extended Freudian sessions, to a pragmatic,
stop-complaining-and-get-on-with-your-life form of guidance later
popularized by television personalities like Dr. Phil.

Dr. Ellis had such an impact that in a 1982 survey, clinical
psychologists ranked him ahead of Freud when asked to name the figure
who had exerted the greatest influence on their field. (They placed him
second behind Carl Rogers, the founder of humanistic psychology.) His
reputation grew even more in the next two decades.

In 1955, however, when Dr. Ellis introduced his approach, most of the
psychological and psychiatric establishment scorned it. His critics
said he misunderstood the nature and force of emotions. Classical
Freudians also took offense at Dr. Ellis’s critical observations about
psychoanalysis and its founder. Dr. Ellis contended that Freud “really
knew very little about sex” and that his view of the Oedipus complex,
as suggesting a universal law of human disturbance, was “foolish.”

A sexual liberationist, Dr. Ellis collaborated with Dr. Alfred C.
Kinsey in his taboo-breaking research on sexual behavior, and his
writings about sex drew complaints from members of the American
Psychological Association.

As a base for his work he established the Institute for Rational
Living, now the Albert Ellis Institute, in a townhouse on East 65th
Street in Manhattan. He lived there on the top floor.

The article in The Times described Dr. Ellis at 90, hard of hearing and
recovering from abdominal surgery, coming downstairs one day in the
spring of 2004 to lead one of his Friday sessions, just as he had for
30 years.

“Do you know why your family is trying to control you?” he asked a
volunteer who had joined him in front of the audience. “Because they
are out of their minds!” he said, inserting an unprintable adjective.

Another participant recalled the murder of her sister years ago by a
drug dealer. “Why can’t you understand that some people are crazy and
violent and do all kinds of terrible things?” Dr. Ellis declared.
“Until you accept it, you’re going to be angry, angry, angry.”

Some critics complained that his seminars were more stand-up comedy
than serious lecture. Still, despite his iconoclasm, or perhaps because
of it, rational emotive behavior therapy became one of the most popular
systems of psychotherapy in the 1970s and ’80s. In 1985, the American
Psychological Association presented Dr. Ellis with its award for
“distinguished professional contributions.”

Dr. Ellis was the author or co-author of more than 75 books, many of
them best sellers. Among them were “A Guide to Successful Marriage,”
“Overcoming Procrastination,” “How to Live With a Neurotic,” “The Art
of Erotic Seduction,” “Sex Without Guilt,” “A Guide to Rational
Living,” and “How to Stubbornly Refuse to Make Yourself Miserable About
Anything — Yes, Anything.”

He often went back to his own life experiences to help explain his
positive frame of thinking. Albert Ellis was born on Sept. 27, 1913, in
Pittsburgh, the oldest of three children. As a child, he wrote, he had
a kidney disorder that turned him from sports to books. His parents
moved to the Bronx and separated when he was 11. He once wrote that he
had limited but amiable contacts with his father, a traveling salesman,
and that his mother, an amateur actress, was not interested in domestic
life.

He maintained that the experience had left no scars. “I took my
father’s absence and my mother’s neglect in stride,” he wrote, “and
even felt good about being allowed so much autonomy and independence.”

He did well in school, skipped grades, won writing contests and, he
said, was pleased with his accomplishments.

But at 19 he was painfully shy and eager to change his behavior. In one
exercise he staked out a bench in a park near his home, determined to
talk to every woman who sat there alone. In one month, he said, he
approached 130 women.

“Thirty walked away immediately,” he said in the Times article. “I
talked with the other 100, for the first time in my life, no matter how
anxious I was. Nobody vomited and ran away. Nobody called the cops.”

Though he got only one date as a result, his shyness disappeared, he
said. He similarly overcame a fear of speaking in public by making
himself do just that, over and over. He became an accomplished public
speaker.

Dr. Ellis studied accounting at City College during the Depression and
took up some entrepreneurial schemes after graduating. In one, he
paired used men’s jackets and pants of similar colors and sold them as
suits. He wrote fiction but found no publishers. He had read a good
deal about sex and set up a bureau in which he counseled couples.

His first marriage, to Karyl Corper, an actress, in 1938, ended in
annulment. His second, in 1956, to Rhoda Winter, a dancer, ended in
divorce. For 37 years, from 1966 to 2003, he lived with a companion,
Janet L. Wolfe, a psychologist who had been executive director of the
institute. More recently he married Debbie Joffe-Ellis, a psychologist
and former assistant, who survives him.

After receiving a doctorate in clinical psychology from Columbia in
1947, Dr. Ellis spent several years undergoing classical psychoanalysis
while using its techniques in his job at a state mental hygiene clinic
in New Jersey. He quit in 1950 to begin a private practice specializing
in sex and marriage therapy and soon started drifting from Freudian
orthodoxy, finding it, he said, a waste of time.

He turned to Greek, Roman and modern philosophers and considered his
own experience. Out of this came rational emotive behavioral therapy,
which he decided would focus not on excavating childhood but on
confronting the irrational thoughts that lead to self-destructive
feelings and behavior. He founded his Manhattan institute in 1959.

“I was hated by practically all psychologists and psychiatrists,” he
recalled. They thought his approach was “superficial and stupid,” he
said, and “they resented that I said therapy doesn’t have to take
years.”

In 2005, Dr. Ellis sued the institute after it removed him from its
board and canceled his Friday seminars. He and his supporters claimed
that the institute had fallen into the hands of psychologists who were
moving it away from his revolutionary therapy techniques.

The board said it had acted out of economic necessity, asserting that
payouts to Dr. Ellis for medical and other expenses were jeopardizing
the institute’s tax-exempt status. Dr. Ellis was by then hard of
hearing and required daily nursing care. Some board members said they
were uncomfortable with his confrontational style and eccentricities
and saw him as a liability.

In January 2006, a State Supreme Court judge ruled that the board had
been wrong in ousting Dr. Ellis without proper notice and reinstated
him. But his friend Ms. Rosellini said Dr. Ellis’s relations with the
board had remained strained afterward.

Despite his failing health, Dr. Ellis maintained a demanding schedule
late into his life.

“I’ll retire when I’m dead,” he said at 90. “While I’m alive, I want to
keep doing what I want to do. See people. Give workshops. Write and
preach the gospel according to St. Albert.”

Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company

                           ***

AP via The Guardian - Jul 25, 2007
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6803221,00.html

Psychologist Albert Ellis Dies at 93

By MARCUS FRANKLIN
Associated Press Writer

NEW YORK (AP) - Albert Ellis, one of the most provocative figures in
modern psychology and the founder of a renowned psychotherapy
institute, died Tuesday at age 93.

He died of kidney and heart failure after a long illness, said his
wife, Debbie Joffe Ellis.

Ellis developed what is known as rational emotive behavior therapy,
which stresses that patients can improve their lives by taking control
of self-defeating thoughts, feelings and behaviors. Many consider his
work to be part of the foundation of cognitive behavior therapy.

``We all owe a great debt to Dr. Ellis,'' said Robert O'Connell,
executive director of the Albert Ellis Institute in Manhattan.

A 1982 survey of clinical psychologists ranked Ellis as the second most
influential in the field - ahead of Sigmund Freud and behind Carl
Rogers, founder of humanistic psychology.

Ellis had been involved in legal battles with the institute he founded
more than four decades ago, accusing its board of improperly removing
him. The board said the ouster was done out of economic necessity.

Last year, a judge ruled that the board had removed Ellis without
proper notice and reinstated him to the board. He returned to the
institute in June, O'Connell said.

``He helped countless people, and a large number of people he helped
now help other people,'' Debbie Joffe Ellis said. ``And in that,
there's no question that he has influenced the world in an intensely
positive way. In this crazy, violent world, he was a compass for
truth.''

Ellis initially devoted most of his spare time to writing fiction, and
when he couldn't get anything published he turned exclusively to
nonfiction, promoting what he called the ``sex revolution.''

In the late 1930s, as he collected material to make a case for ``sexual
liberty,'' his friends began regarding him as an expert on the subject.
They often asked for advice, and Ellis discovered that he liked
counseling, as well as writing.

After receiving a doctorate in clinical psychology from Columbia
University, he started a private practice specializing in sex and
marriage therapy. R.E.B.T. grew out of his own experiences and the
teachings of Greek, Roman and modern philosophers.

Early in his career, Ellis drew criticism from some in the
psychological and psychiatric establishment because of his critical
views of Freud and psychoanalysis.

Ellis wrote or co-wrote more than 60 books including ``A Guide to
Successful Marriage,'' ``How to Live With a Neurotic'' and ``A New
Guide to Rational Living.''

                              ***

Psych Central News - Jul 24, 2007
http://psychcentral.com/news/2007/07/24/albert-ellis-dead-at-93/

Albert Ellis, Dead at 93

Reviewed by John M. Grohol, Psy.D.

Albert Ellis, founder of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT),
died today at the age of 93, of apparent kidney and heart failure.
The approach to psychotherapy Ellis pioneered helped change the very
nature of therapy from the unlimited, undirected psychodynamic
approach, to solution-focused, goal- and action-oriented shorter term
therapy that emphasized the importance of a patient's emotions and
thoughts in the here-and-now (rather than focusing on one's
childhood).

Shortly after receiving his Ph.D. in 1947, Ellis began a personal
analysis and program of supervision with Richard Hulbeck. Karen
Horney would be the single greatest influence in Ellis's thinking,
although the writings of Alfred Adler, Erich Fromm and Harry Stack
Sullivan also played a role in shaping his psychological models.
Ellis credits Alfred Korzybski and his book, Science and Sanity, for
starting him on the philosophical path for founding rational-emotive
therapy.

By January 1953 his break with psychoanalysis was complete, and he
began calling himself a rational therapist. Ellis was now advocating
a new more active and directive type of psychotherapy. By 1955 he
dubbed his new approach Rational Therapy (RT), which was eventually
called rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT).

Developed in the 1950's, it challenged the deliberate, slow-moving
methodology of Sigmund Freud, the prevailing psychotherapeutic
treatment at the time.

REBT requires that the therapist help the client understand � and act
on the understanding � that his or her own personal philosophy
contains beliefs that lead to his or her own emotional pain. This new
approach stressed actively working to change a client's self-
defeating beliefs and behaviors by demonstrating their irrationality
and rigidity. Ellis related everything to these core irrational
beliefs such as "I must be perfect" and "I must be loved by
everyone." Ellis believed that through rational analysis, people can
understand their errors in light of the core irrational beliefs and
then construct a more rational position.

"The trouble with most therapy is that it helps you feel better," he
told The New York Times in an interview in 2004. "But you don't get
better. You have to back it up with action, action, action."

In 1954 Ellis began teaching his new technique to other therapists,
and by 1957 he formally set forth the first cognitive behavior
therapy by proposing that therapists help people adjust their
thinking and behavior as the treatment for neuroses. Two years later
Ellis published the book How to Live with a Neurotic which elaborated
on his new method. In 1960 Ellis presented a paper on his new
approach at the American Psychological Association convention in
Chicago. There was mild interest, but few recognized that the
paradigm set forth would become the zeitgeist within a generation.

At that time the prevailing interest in experimental psychology was
behaviorism, while in clinical psychology it was the psychoanalytic
schools of notables such as Freud, Jung, Adler, and Perls. Despite
the fact that Ellis' approach emphasized cognitive, emotive, and
behavioral methods, his strong cognitive emphasis provoked almost
everyone with the possible exception of the followers of Alfred
Adler. Consequently, he was often received with hostility at
professional conferences and in print.

Despite the slow adoption of his approach, Ellis founded his own
institute. The Institute for Rational Living was founded as a not-for-
profit organization in 1959. By 1968 it was chartered by the New York
State Board of Regents as a training institute and psychological
clinic. This was no trivial feat as New York State had a Mental
Hygiene Act which mandated psychiatric management of mental health
clinics. Ellis had broken ground by founding an institute purely
based on psychological control and principles.

Some critics complained that his seminars were more stand-up comedy
than serious lecture. Still, despite his iconoclasm, or perhaps
because of it, rational emotive behavior therapy became one of the
most popular systems of psychotherapy in the 1970's and 80's. In
1985, the American Psychological Association presented Dr. Ellis with
its award for "distinguished professional contributions."

Dr. Ellis was the author or co-author of more than 60 books, many of
them best sellers. Among them were "A Guide to Successful
Marriage," "Overcoming Procrastination," "How to Live With a
Neurotic," "The Art of Erotic Seduction," "Sex Without Guilt," "A New
Guide to Rational Living," and "How to Stubbornly Refuse to Make
Yourself Miserable About Anything - Yes, Anything."

In 2003 Ellis received an award from the Association for Rational
Emotive Behaviour Therapy (UK) for the formulation and development of
REBT. At the same time he celebrated his 90th birthday, an event
attended by luminaries such as Bill Clinton and the Dalai Lama.

In 2005, Dr. Ellis sued the institution after it removed him from its
board and canceled his Friday seminars. He and his supporters claimed
that the institute had fallen into the hands of psychologists who
were moving it away from his revolutionary therapy techniques.

The board said it had acted out of economic necessity, asserting that
payouts to Dr. Ellis for medical and other expenses were jeopardizing
the institute's tax-exempt status. Dr. Ellis was by then requiring
daily nursing care. Some board members said they were uncomfortable
with his confrontational style and eccentricities and saw him as a
liability.

In January 2006, a state Supreme Court judge ruled that the board had
been wrong in ousting Dr. Ellis without proper notice and reinstated
him. But Ms. Rosellini, his spokeswoman, said Dr. Ellis's relations
with the board remained strained afterward.

Despite his failing health, Dr. Ellis maintained a demanding schedule
late into his life.