Rational-Emotive Behavior Therapy

Description of the Strategy

In 1956, Albert Ellis presented his new approach to psychological treatment at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association. He called it “rational therapy.” Immediately attacked as rationalistic and unconcerned with the emotional aspect of human life, he soon changed the name to “rationalemotive therapy.” After many years of being urged to take official note of the clearly behavioral aspects of the theory and practice, Ellis renamed his approach “rational-emotive behavior therapy” (REBT) in the early 1990s.

Ellis did not set out to be a psychological practitioner. He was driven in that direction by one of his long-standing interests: human sexuality and human sexual behavior. His development of REBT was greatly shaped by another of his long-standing passions: philosophy. Having focused on business as an undergraduate, he pursued graduate training in psychology from Columbia University because of the interest and his already developed expertise in human sexuality. His doctoral committee allowed him to pursue a dissertation on the sexual behavior of Columbia University coeds. However, when the data were reviewed, his committee felt the findings were too controversial for publication. He competed a second dissertation, this time on issues in psychological measurement.

Ellis readily accepted the reigning psychoanalytic ethos of his day and completed his own analysis with a psychoanalyst trained in the tradition of Karen Horney. He practiced psychoanalysis and psychoanalytically oriented psychotherapy. However, his interest in sexual dysfunction and the utilization of couples treatment formats showed him that direct, explicit instruction was often more effective and efficient. Reaching back to his lifelong interest in philosophy, he fashioned what was, then, a strikingly different approach to psychological intervention. He especially focused on the insight offered by the Stoic philosopher Epictetus, “Men are not disturbed by events, but by the view they take of them.” He first called his approach rational therapy because he took the position that human disturbances (e.g., anger, anxiety, depression, and guilt) were related to irrational beliefs, while more functional, if still negative emotions (e.g., annoyance, concern, sorrow, and regret) were related to rational beliefs.

Ellis made clear from his earliest work on this new theory that he considered human beings to be simultaneously sensing, thinking, emoting, and behavior organisms. While all these functions occurred more or less simultaneously, it was also true that one may be more dominate at any moment. Thus, a person is more often a sensing, THINKING, emoting, behaving individual when, for example, playing chess than when watching her child, the first person in her family to receive a college diploma, walk across the stage at graduation. Then, that person is more likely a sensing, thinking, EMOTING, behaving individual.

Ellis put his treatment approach squarely in the center of an overall philosophy for living that strongly tipped toward hedonism. He held that humans were constantly tempted by short-term pleasures to act [Page 464]against their long-term interests. Thus, from its inception, Ellis encouraged those he served and those he trained to build a high tolerance for frustration. By doing so, each individual could focus on his or her long-term interests rather than giving in to what might feel good at the moment but that also sowed the seeds of later pain and suffering.

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