Dispute Irrational Beliefs and Teach Rational Beliefs: An Interview with Albert Ellis

In this interview, Ellis acknowledges that irrational beliefs have a higher biological basis than rational beliefs and that they are not at opposite ends of the same continuum. Ellis agrees that irrational beliefs are more involved in mental health problems while rational beliefs contribute to the psychology of success. The strength of conviction in both rational and irrational beliefs including self-acceptance and self-downing is explored. Ellis equates the conviction with which rational beliefs need to be held to influence emotions and behaviors with “faith.” He acknowledges the importance of faith built on facts rather than religiosity. Ellis agrees that ridding strongly motivated individuals of self-depreciation may lead to a decrease in their high frustration tolerance and, ultimately, their drive for and achievement of success. Ellis supports adding an “F” to the ABCDE model—forcefully agreeing with and applying new rational beliefs. Ellis discusses the need to develop a literature on therapeutic techniques and methods for helping people to apply rational beliefs more strongly to different areas of their lives. Ellis highlights the perils of self-efficacy positive psychology interventions if people’s innate tendency towards self-depreciation is ignored. The interviewer concludes the interview expressing the view that if we listen to Ellis, “we” need to re-think the ways we teach people of all ages to think rationally knowing that the rational re-statement of previously disputed irrational beliefs is only one of many different teaching methods. This interview was conducted in January, 2005, at the Albert Ellis Institute. At the time of the interview, Dr. Ellis was in good health. In this interview held over two separate sessions, a series of questions prepared by the interviewer were presented to Albert Ellis that were designed to stimulate discussion on differences between rational and irrational beliefs and on the issue of whether once irrational beliefs have been disputed, more time and REBT methods need to be devoted to helping clients strengthen their conviction in and application of rational beliefs.     

Who May Carry Out Protective Deterrence?

Anthony Ellis argues that institutional punishment occurs automatically in a way analogous to mechanical deterrents, and given that issuing real threats is justified for self-defence, institutional punishment, intended to protect society via deterrence, can be justified without violating the Kantian constraint against using persons as means only. But institutional punishments are not in fact executed automatically: they must be carried out by moral agents. Ellis fails to provide a basis for those agents to justify the performance of their legal duties.     

A Study of Volunteer Clients Who Experienced Live Sessions of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy in Front of a Public Audience

This is a study of the responses of 100 selected subjects who gave their reactions to experiencing a live session of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) with Albert Ellis in front of a public audience. Ninety-seven of the respondents found their session helpful; only 13 felt uncomfortable discussing their problems in public; 99 of them felt that Dr. Ellis focused on their main problem; 94 of them reported that they somewhat or very much used Dr. Ellis's suggestions; 90 of them felt that the members of the audience suggestions were helpful; and 93 of them said that they would like to work with Dr. Ellis again at a public therapy session. Limitations of this study are discussed.     

The “ABCs” of REBT III: A Study of Errors and Confusions Made by Ellis and Joffe Ellis (2011)

In this study, I analysed Albert Ellis??s posthumous contribution to the APA ??Theories of Psychotherapy?? series (Ellis and Joffe Ellis 2011) for evidence of errors and confusions with respect to the ??ABCs?? of REBT. A total of 74 of such errors/confusions were found with most being made about beliefs at ??B?? (n?=?59), particularly about irrational beliefs (n?=?38). A variety of errors and confusions were also made about the relationship between ??B?? and ??C?? and about emotional ??Cs??. Weaknesses of the current study were noted and suggestions for future research made.     

Mental Illness: Fact or Myth? Revisiting the Debate Between Albert Ellis and Thomas Szasz

Although it is widely accepted that mental illnesses affect millions of people worldwide, there is still disagreement among scholars about the facts of mental illness. The orthodox position is that mental illness is a fact; critics argue that it is a myth. Thomas Szasz was perhaps the most influential critic of mental illness while Albert Ellis was one of the most influential psychotherapists of the twentieth century. Yet, they disagreed about the facts of mental illness. Ellis argued that mental illness is a fact; Szasz argued that mental illness is a metaphor that we have mistaken for a fact. Both men were practicing psychotherapists: Ellis developed Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy and treated mentally ill clients as irrational thinkers; Szasz developed Autonomous Psychotherapy and treated clients as existential game-players who choose, or have been coerced into, the role of sick patient. Szasz vehemently disagreed with Ellis’s view that some people with serious mental illnesses should be institutionalized and treated against their will. While Ellis argued that mental illness is a convenient label for people who are a danger to themselves and others, Szasz argued that mental illness is a metaphor for moral problems in living and involuntary institutionalization and treatment are crimes against humanity. This paper, then, revisits the debate between Ellis and Szasz on the vexed topic of mental illness.     

Albert Ellis and Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy: A Personal Reflection

This article provides an overview of the contributions to this special issue celebrating Dr. Albert Ellis and Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy. Members of The Albert Ellis Institute’s International Training Standards and Policy Review Committeee (ITS-PRC) were invited to reflect on the personal and professional influences Dr. Ellis had on each of them. In addition, several of the contributors offer their praise as well as critiques of both Albert Ellis and his theory, as well as recommendations for future directions.     

Effects of sad mood on time-based prospective memory

Very little is known about the influence of emotional factors on prospective memory (PM) performance. We used a mood induction (neutral or sad) to examine the effects of sad mood on time-based PM performance. Based on Ellis and Ashbrook's (1988) resource allocation model, we hypothesised an adverse effect of sad mood on PM performance. Results revealed that participants who responded to the sad mood induction procedure showed reduced PM performance that mainly resulted from a decreased timeliness of PM responses, but only in the first half of the task. Mood effects on PM could be explained in terms of reduced and less accurate monitoring. Implications for concepts of PM and the assessment of emotional after-effects are discussed.     

The “ABCs” of REBT II: A Preliminary Study of Errors and Confusions Made by REBT Therapists

In this study, 19 REBT therapists from the Albert Ellis Institute??s referral list from a sample of 83 provided a specific ??ABC?? assessment of a problem and its solution that they would teach a class of counselling graduate students. This material was analysed for evidence of errors and confusions with respect to the ??ABCs?? of REBT. A total of 81 of such errors/confusions were found with most being made about beliefs at ??B??, particularly about rational beliefs. A variety of errors and confusions were also made about ??A?? and emotional ??Cs??. It was suggested that one way of addressing this state of affairs would be for the Albert Ellis Institute to introduce a theory test which applicants for Fellowship and Associate Fellowship status would have to pass before being awarded such status. Weaknesses of the current study were noted and suggestions for future research made.     

More things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in the initial letter acuity hypothesis

Schwartz, Montagner, and Kirsner (1987 Brain and Language, 31, 301-307) claim that length X visual hemifield interactions for recognition of horizontal words reflect acuity differences for the initial letters of short and long words rather than different methods of lexical access for words presented in the LVF and in the RVF. They argue that Young and Ellis did not satisfactorily eliminate this possibility because they (Young & Ellis, 1985, Brain and Language, 24, 326-358, Experiment 3) allowed the use of sophisticated guessing strategies. We demonstrate that the presentation conditions of the Schwartz et al. (1987) experiment are different from those of our (Young & Ellis, 1985) experiments in potentially important ways, and that the acuity gradient explanation proposed by Schwartz et al. to account for word length X visual hemifield interactions is inadequate in terms of both the existing literature and a reanalysis of data from our own (Young & Ellis, 1985) Experiments 1 and 3.     

NONSTATIONARY DATA SHOULD NOT BE “CORRECTED”

Ellis (1979), in his study of interaction patterns in groups, discovered that his data did not satisfy the assumptions of a simple Markov model. In particular, he found that his data failed to satisfy the assumption of stationarity. In response to this, Ellis employed a new composite matrix procedure to generate a single set of predicted one-step transition probabilities. This essay argues that this procedure (1) does not generate one-step probabilities, (2) does not produce legitimately interpretable results, and (3) is a fundamentally inappropriate response to the discovery of nonstationary data. The composite matrix procedure used by Ellis is discussed and appropriate responses to the discovery of nonstationary interaction data are proposed.     

Sense mode and coupling in a vigilance task

Usarmymedical Research Laboratory, Fort Knox, Kentucky This investigation examined the performance of 36 Ss on three 90-min vigilance tasks. As time on task increased, there was a significant decrease in number of detections and false responses and a corresponding significant increase in response latency. The consistent rank order relationship between stimulus conditions suggests that there were uniform trends among these conventional response measures. There was a significant decline in sensitivity (d′) lor the closely coupled tasks, regardless of the sense mode involved. However, d′ remained fairly stable for the loosely coupled visual task. The significant increase in criterion values(β) suggest that Ss adopt a more conservative mode of responding with increasing time on task. Further, these data indicate that a lack of control of coupling effects, rather than sense mode specificity, may have confounded the interpretation of prior research on visualand auditory tasks.     

Lateral differences in lexical access: word length vs. stimulus length

A. W. Young and A. W. Ellis (1985, Brain and Language, 24, 326-358) have shown that visual length of stimuli is a major determinant of lateral differences in word processing. They suggest that the right hemisphere must first code the words in graphemic form and, therefore, is affected by the word length. They demonstrated that visual length is best defined as the number of letters. The present experiment was conducted with 36 normal subjects to test this definition of the visual length by contrasting the number of letters and the physical length in the visual field. Spaces were inserted in the short words (4-letter) so that they matched the physical length of the long words (7-letter). Our results replicated those of Young and Ellis and confirmed that visual length can be defined by the number of letters. In addition, the imagery value of the words tended to affect this Hemifield x Length effect, a result not obtained by Young and Ellis.     

Measures of visuospatial short-term memory: the Knox Cube Imitation Test and the Corsi Blocks Test compared

The present investigation analyzes the characteristics of two tasks that have been considered as a measure of visuospatial abilities: The Knox Cube Imitation Test and the Corsi Blocks Test. The former was originally devised by Knox (1913) to diagnose mental retardation in potential immigrants to the United States, while the latter has been specifically designed to be used in neuropsychological practice by Corsi (1972). Although both tasks have been widely used in the past, there is little empirical research investigating the characteristics of these tasks from a theoretical point of view. In order to do so, we carried out two parallel experiments in which both tasks were presented in a baseline condition as well as in association with three different concurrent tasks (i.e., articulatory suppression, spatial tapping, and random generation) supposed to tap the various components of working memory. Results showed that neither of the tasks can be considered as a pure measure of visuospatial processing and that, at the same time, it is necessary to reconsider the architecture of working memory in order to suggest a more integrated functioning of the system.     

Albert Ellis' personal responses to the Survey of Rational-Emotive Therapists

This article presents Albert Ellis' personal responses to the Survey of Rational-Emotive Therapists and his answers to a number of questions that the first and second authors asked Ellis regarding some of his responses. Ellis also commented on how adequately he thought the results of the survey appeared to represent the current philosophies and practices of RET.     

Albert Ellis: Unsung hero of positive psychology

The contributions of Albert Ellis to the understanding of human happiness including his suggestions for living a happier life have not been represented in the field of positive psychology. This article presents Ellis’ theoretical constructs associated with his conception of happiness (dual nature of human psyche, self-actualization, purpose and goals of life and short- and long-term happiness). Eleven of Ellis’ rational principles of living (e.g. self-interest, self-direction, self-acceptance, commitment to absorbing activities, hedonism) are presented. When consistently applied in practice, they may help people to experience frequent positive affect, less frequent and intense negative emotions and high life satisfaction. It will show how Ellis’ ABC-DE scientific method can be used with individuals to lessen unhappiness. Suggestions are provided for research into associations between rationality and happiness as well as the impact of different rationality-based interventions on happiness.     

Putting the “B” in ret: It had to be

Editor's Note: The history of RET will show that in the early 1990s, Albert Ellis modified the name of his therapy to rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT). Ellis gives much of the credit and responsibility for the name change to Ray Corsini—the highly-regarded anthologist of modern-day systems of counseling and psychotherapy. Dr. Corsini was kind enough to contribute his own view as to why the name change was warranted. The lively debate concerning the inclusion of the word “behavior” in rational-emotive therapy will be taken up in the next issue ofJRECBT with reactions of Gerald Davison, Cyril Franks, Arnold Lazarus and Albert Ellis.     

Rational-Emotive Behavior Therapy: An Interview with Albert Ellis

Over the past 50~years, Rational-Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) has been developed and refined by Albert Ellis. REBT provides a framework for therapy that appears useful for many therapists and most clients. This paper includes a recent interview with Dr. Ellis, examining issues related to the development, application, and ongoing refinement of REBT as a useful and effective approach to psychotherapy.     

Two Therapists and One Client: Problems in Comparison

This paper is a response to Robb’s analysis of Ellis’ and Dryden’s sessions held with “Jane” in the summer of 1994. As Robb noted, these consecutive sessions with the same client make for interesting, and clarifying, comparisons. My analysis considers Robb’s overview of REBT and where I believe it diverges from the position of Ellis. It also considers why Ellis used the strategy he did with “Jane” and compares and contrasts the assumptions that Ellis and Dryden seem to be making during their respective sessions. It ends with a brief summary of the two approaches and some general comments about the nature of psychotherapy.     

The therapeutic relationship in Rational-Emotive Therapy: Some preliminary data

This study assessed the therapeutic relationship between psychotherapy clients and Albert Ellis and other Rational-Emotive Therapists. Clients at the Institute for Rational-Emotive Therapy completed the relationship questionnaire (Truax, & Carkhuff, 1967). The results suggest that RET therapists do develop positive therapeutic relationships. Clients receiving RET endorsed significantly higher scores on most therapeutic relationship subscales compared to subjects in the initial articles introducing the therapeutic relationship scale. There were no differences in therapeutic relationship scores by gender of the therapist. Also, there was no correlation between the relationship scores and the number of sessions completed, which suggests the therapuetic relationship develops early. Both clients of senior and junior therapists received higher relationship scores than did clients of Dr. Ellis. This disconfirms the argument that RET practices cannot lead to a therapuetic relationship and Ellis' therapeutic relationship is a result of his fame and could not be duplicated by other therapists using RET.The authors wish to thank the Board of Trustees of Institute for Rational-Emotive Therapy for their financial support of this study.