Albert Ellis, as far as I'm concerned, is comparable
to Albert Einstein. As Einstein introduced us to the wonders of the physical
world, Ellis introduced us to the wonders of the psychological world.
~William Glasser,
M.D., Creator of Choice Theory and Reality Therapy
Albert Ellis is a contemporary prophet whose ideas will be remembered along with those of Jesus, Buddha, Lao Tzu and Sartre. ~Jon Carlson, Distinguished Professor, Governors State University
There is no question that Ellis is the pioneer in modern-day psychotherapy. He really cleared the road for the rest of us who followed behind him...He's absolutely right about the shoulds and the musts...I do want to personally thank him for what he's done in helping me to develop my own therapeutic techniques. ~Aaron Beck
Dr. Albert Ellis was one of the greatest thinkers of the 20th century and his contributions will continue to save lives into the 21st century and beyond. ~Gayle Rosellini
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There is virtually nothing in which I delight more than throwing myself into a good and difficult problem. ~Albert Ellis
Dr. Albert Ellis, creator of Psychology's Cognitive Revolution, changed Psychology and Psychotherapy forever in early 1950s when, disappointed with slowness and frequent ineffectiveness of Freudian psychoanalysis, he emphasized the role thoughts play in creating emotions and behaviors. His form of therapy, Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT), which he initially called Rational Emotive Therapy (RET), is evidence-based and is the foundation of all Cognitive Therapies.
Author of more than 75 books and 1200 articles, Albert Ellis is generally recognized as the world's greatest psychologist and psychotherapist. Among psychologists, he is rated as being more influential than Jung, Freud, or Skinner.
More psychotherapists practice his form of therapy than any other. Available citation tracking shows that Albert Ellis has more citations in major counseling psychology journals than any other author from 1957 to 1980.
Millions of individuals have benefited from Albert Ellis' teachings, which, more than psychotherapy, constitute a comprehensive philosophy of living.
Considered by us to be the greatest thinker of all times on causes and cures of human suffering, Albert Ellis faced great adversities in last several years of his life. Recently he was removed from the Board of Albert Ellis Institute, the Institute which he founded and supported all his life, and prevented from conducting his famous Friday Night Workshops in its building. Despite all odds, Ellis conducted Friday Night Workshops-in-exile in a rented building. Bravely fighting serious illnessess and injustices, Dr. Ellis left us on July 24, 2007.
Dr. Albert Ellis was a living embodiment of his own philosophy. He tried to apply his theories to himself as honestly as he could, making himself a product of his own ideas as his ideas were a product of him.
We proudly announce ourselves to be Ellis' and his beloved wife Dr. Debbie Joffe Ellis' loyal friends and strong supporters. We will continue promoting our most beloved Al's legacy, no matter what.
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Announcement: A New Blog Dedicated Exclusively to Albert Ellis and REBT: Albert Ellis and REBT: A Rational Oasis
We proudly announce creation of a new blog in honor of Dr Albert Ellis. This blog is open to everyone, from beginners to experts. People are encouraged to post questions, opinions, comments, and experiences with REBT. Also, you may discuss any topic rationally and scientifically. Even anonymous postings are welcome.
To visit the blog, please click albert-ellis.blogspot.com.
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What is Love?
Many of us frequently think that if we like someone, she or he must love us in return. Dr. Albert Ellis differentiated "loving" from "being-in-love" (in-lovedness or falling-in-love). He had the following to say about these states:
"In many aspects loving and being-in-love are almost opposites. Being-in-love is often a socially polite term for having an obsessive-compulsive fixation on someone. This is statistically normal, since most of us are in this state one or more times during our lives. This state also has distinct advantages; it is highly absorbing, often pleasurable, and sometimes positively ecstatic. But being-in-love usually lasts for a short period of time, while loving may go on for a lifetime.
Loving, in contrast, means being interested in another human being for her own sake and from her own frame of reference. While the individual who is in-love (the state of being-in-love or in-lovedness or falling-in-love), frequently demands return love; the individual who is loving is not interested in reciprocation.
Loving stems from personal strength. When you are loving someone, you don't care whether the other person loves you and you think-feel-act strongly enough to be truly interested in the other person. It is altruistic but not self-sacrificing, since the loving individual enjoys and likes herself and has no need to sacrifice her own major interests to win other's approval."
What follows directly from the foregoing
discussion is that few of us have the strength or energy to be loving
to a few or even one individual. Loving is hard work, but rewards are
enormous.
In contrast to many philosophies that ask us to love everyone (which is
most probably impossible), REBT tells us that if we choose to be reasonably
happy in our lives, we better unconditionally accept others.
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International Committee for the Advancement of Rational Emotive Education (REE) is Formed
In the past 50 years, in the United States alone, we've seen a dramatic rise in psychological and behavioral disabilities, depression, anxiety, teen pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, and overweight and obesity among children and adolescents. Cobble this with dramatic increases in the high-school dropout rate, incarceration rate, use of alcohol and illicit substances among middle and high school students, and we are witnessing a social crisis in process. In this changing social landscape, positive psychological prevention programs for children and adolescents may have measurable positive value.
A report of the 2000 conference of The Surgeon General's Report on Children's Mental Health recognized this crisis and advanced this warning:
Growing numbers of children are suffering needlessly because their emotional, behavioral, and developmental needs are not being met by those very institutions which were explicitly created to take care of them. It is time that we as a Nation took seriously the task of preventing mental health problems and treating mental illnesses in youth.
Rational emotive education (REE) is a research-supported positive prevention psychological education program for kids and teens that was pioneered and developed by psychologist Dr. Bill Knaus. It may be the best of its kind.
The program operates on three premises: (1) It is wiser and less costly to prevent needless mental health problems then to pay for the consequences. (2) Children and adolescents can be beneficially taught critical thinking, life skills, and rational coping concepts in classroom settings. (3) Children and adolescents can test positive mental health concepts through classroom simulations. In spontaneously arising situations they may apply what they previously tested and found effective.
While special training in the use of the REE method
is desirable, with appropriate practice the original program was designed
so that it may be used like a cookbook.
As a public service, the original REE program is now a free download offered at REBTnetwork.org. This donation was made by Bill Knaus in honor of Albert Ellis' enormous contributions to humanity, and in recognition of Ellis' special interest in prevention programs to support the positive mental health of children and adolescents. The original REE program is found at:
http://www.rebtnetwork.org/library/Rational_Emotive_Education.pdf
As a public service, the program will be revised and also offered as a free download.
An article that describes the planned revision is found at:
http://rebtnetwork.org/essays/essay.html
In addition to its use as a primary prevention method, REE can be adapted for use in clinical and counseling settings as an intervention strategy for treating children and adolescents with emotional disabilities who are responsive to a rational cognitive and behavioral form of intervention.
If you wish to comment about the program, write webmaster@rebtnetwork.org or REEcommittee@gmail.com. Email messages sent to the committee address will be checked bimonthly.
The revision and evolution of the REE program is supported by The International Advisory Committee for the Advancement of Rational Emotive Education. The committee is open-ended. From time to time, new members with a special interest in prevention will join the committee. The list of committee members follows:
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One of the last messages of Albert Ellis in "Under the influence: Reflections of Albert Ellis in the work of others"
Just received a copy of "Under The Influence: Reflections of Albert Ellis in the Work of Others" (Sharp Press, Tucson) and read it in one quick gulp. Now I need to read it again and reflect a little more myself. Publication of the book, edited by Emmett Velten, was postponed several times. It is strange to read it now with Ellis no longer on the planet but it is cetainly a worthwhile volume, a call for credit where credit is due amongst the 'new' therapies.
The final chapter is by Al himself, it must have been one of the last things he wrote- characteristically courageous and generous until the very end:
"In this, my 93rd year, I look back on my life with some sadness and regrets but also with profound pleasure at having had the guts to strive, to seek, to find - sometimes! - so much I believe can benefit us all, and not to have yielded in the face of storms of opposition and opportunism. As long as my and REBT's imitators help people and encourage less disturbance and more self-actualized living, I welcome them. Not that they need encouragment in that direction, but may they continue to copy and adapt!"
Steve Lake
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Honoring Dr. Albert Ellis: Debbie Joffe Ellis interviewed by David McMillian for Strategies for Living
To listen to the interview, click here.
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Albert Ellis' ideas in the UK national curriculum
The UK government has started a new subject called Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning (SEAL). The subject was introduced in primary education in 2004 and has been included in secondary education in 2007. REBT and Albert Ellis' ABC model is part of this curriculum.
Click here for the online teaching material for SEAL; for REBT and the ABC model, please read page nos. 59 onwards.
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Contact Debbie Joffe Ellis
Debbie Joffe Ellis, wife of Albert Ellis, is available for media interviews and to make presentations on Dr. Ellis and REBT.
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In celebration of Dr. Albert Ellis: Videos of Albert Ellis' attorneys speaking at his memorial
Robert Juceam and Michael De Leeuw, attorneys for Dr. Ellis in his dispute with the Albert Ellis Institute, recorded their recollections of Albert Ellis, his effect on their work, and their thoughts on the dispute. The videos were played at the Albert Ellis Memorial Service held at Columbia University on September 28, 2007. Watch Michael De Leeuw and Robert Juceam (videos hosted off site).
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Dr. Arnold Lazarus speaks about his friend, Dr. Albert Ellis
I considered Al a friend, an esteemed colleague, and one of my heroes. He visited me in Princeton on several occasions and we both enjoyed having debates, serving on professional panels, conducting workshops together and so forth. Perhaps one of the most helpful pieces of advice I ever received came from Al. In 1968 I was a professor at Temple University Medical School and was unhappy with my work environment and many of my colleagues. I took a train to New York and asked Al if he would give me a job at his Institute. He said to me that I am not the sort of person who should be working for someone else. It was okay to serve on a university faculty, but if I wanted to work at an institute, I would best be advised to set up my own one. Coming from a man I liked and admired who was about 18 years my senior, this gave me a big boost of confidence, and in retrospect, as with many things, Al was 100% on target. His loss is inestimable.
~Dr. Arnold Lazarus~
http://www.thelazarusinstitute.com/aal.html
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Albert Ellis Guest Book
If you wish to visit or sign Albert Ellis Guest Book, please click here.
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For recent articles on Albert Ellis in world media click here.
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For a rare photograph of Albert Ellis and Aaron Beck and a historic dialogue between the two legends click here.
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Announcement: Profiles in Courage Awards
Three Former Directors of Training of the Albert Ellis Institute offer the first of a series of Profiles in Courage awards. They go to Albert Ellis, Gayle Rosellini, Deborah Steinberg, Will Ross, and Debbie Joffe Ellis.
Over the past two years Albert Ellis expended as much time as he was able to complete his life work while fighting against what he saw as injustice. Rosellini, Steinberg, Ross, and Joffe-Ellis literally contributed thousands of hours of their time and thoughtful clear-thinking efforts in the pursuit of justice and for the advancement of REBT.
Nothing in the annals of the history of psychology rivals the conflict that the Albert Ellis Institute Board of Trustees started when they unlawfully removed Albert Ellis from the Board of Trustees at the Institute he founded. Just before that time, at that moment, and thereafter, they figuratively unleashed a firestorm that has continued to this day. History will be the judge of their behavior.
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Website launched on June 5, 2007
About the photographs: All photographs of Albert Ellis, which appear on this website, were taken by Jim Kahnweiler (http://www.jimkphotographics.com/ in late November and December 2006. In some of the photographs, you will also see Debbie Joffe. We gratefully acknowledge Jim's kind permission to show these inspiring photographs here. The photographs were taken in a hospital, when a group of students visited Ellis.
