Albert Ellis, Ph.D.

Albert Ellis (1913-2007) was the originator of the cognitive revolutionary paradigm shift in psychotherapy and is the grandfather of cognitive-behavioral therapies. He is widely recogniced to be one of the most important figures in modern psychology. He was the psychologist who created and developed Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT). As he once stated: "there is nothing deeper than a person's philosophy."

Brief biography

Albert Ellis, Ph.D. was the American psychologist who revolutionized the field of psychology and psychotherapy when he in 1955 founded and during the following 50 years steadily kept developing the now famous Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) - one of the most important pillars of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). He started a revolutionary paradigm shift in the way psychology thought about human problems and changing the way psychotherapy was practiced around the world.

Albert Ellis was born in Pittsburgh in 1913, grew up in New York City, and received a doctorate in clinical psychology from Columbia University in 1947. In 1959, he established the Institute for Rational Living, a non-profit organization now called the Albert Ellis Institute. Ellis practiced psychotherapy and counselling for over sixty years and wrote more than 75 books and 1200 articles. REBT originally grew out of his own experiences and the teachings of Asian, Greek, Roman and modern philosophers like Gautama Buddha, Lao Tsu, Confucius, Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius, Epicurus, Seneca, Immanuel Kant, Karl Popper, Martin Heidegger, Paul Tillich, George Santayana, Bertrand Russell, Jean-Paul Sartre, John Dewey, Ludwig Wittgenstein and Alfred Korzybski.

Clinical psychologists called him the the second most influential psychotherapist of the twentieth century, behind Carl Rogers and ahead of Sigmund Freud and he received the highest awards from several professional societies. New Yorker Magazine reported that in the off-Broadway play "Trumbo", he was called "the greatest humanitarian since Gandhi." In addition, Ellis was also a well known sexologist and one of the founders of the American sexual revolution. Although he claimed to be a probabelistic atheist, he was very careful to state that REBT is independent of his atheism - emphasising that many skilled REBT practitioners are religious - including some who are ordained ministers. Many people also considered him spiritual for his tireless contributions to others.

His influence also extended into areas other than psychology and he wrote extensively on the problems posed on modern man. Though his tireless, no-nonsense, humoristic, irreverent, charismatic, iconoclastic way of being he impacted millions of people around the world with his theories and spirit. He continues to be a beacon of light for millions who have have been striving with emotional and behavioral difficulties and a genuine inspirator for thousands of practioners in the field of psychotherapy and counselling.

---

Albert Ellis died of kidney and heart failure July 24. 2007. Read the obituruary from New York Times. View the guestbook (external site) in tribute of Albert Ellis. Read quotes from Albert Ellis on this site.