In our Retrobituaries serial , we highlight interesting people who are no longer with us . Today let ’s explore the life of Albert Ellis , who passed away in 2007 at the years of 93 .
It ’s no hyperbole to say that Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy change psychology forever . Albert Ellis , who is perhaps psychological science ’s most colorful groundbreaker , was the man who develop the theory , practice , and school day of persuasion . He died in 2007 , but his study uphold to vibrate . Here are a few thing you might not have known about the granddaddy of scientific , evidence - based psychotherapy .
He was thrown out of the Albert Ellis Institute.
Albert Ellis was not afraid to break with tradition or proffer brace judgement , and this did n’t always go over well . His study with Alfred Kinsey in the 1950s bring in him biting complaints from members of the American Psychological Association , and at some point , he even began to annoy the control panel of regent of the Albert Ellis Institute ( formerly the Institute for Rational Living ) , which he ground .
Every Friday dark , Ellis hold a workshop that was open to the populace . Anywhere between fifty and one hundred hoi polloi show up once a week for live therapy . ( Said Ellis : “ I ’m gon na heal every f***in ’ fruitcake in New York one at a fourth dimension ! ” ) The display board of the Albert Ellis Institute attempt to close down the sessions in 2005 — after he ’d been doing them every week for 40 years — and then ousted Ellis from the Institute in what was report as a “ castle coup d’etat . ” This was in revenge for Ellis ’s wasting of financial imagination . The charge , specifically ? “ Excess use of benefits . ” At the end of his spirit , Ellis sustained a severe gastroenterological transmission , and near death , had to have his El Salvadoran colon absent . He required daily breast feeding care ( though his intellect remained as discriminating as ever ) . The medical bills were pretty high , and the board , which establish a trust for precisely this situation , resolve that Ellis ’s bills were just too gamey . ( Really . ) They wanted their money back .
After a legal skirmish , a judge quick backed Ellis , and he was reinstated , his name net .
( Notably , after he ’d been discharge from his own Institute , he continued having his hebdomadal sessions . It ’s not like anyone on the board was showing up for work on Friday nights , so Ellis , who go on his key to the building , simply rent himself in and opened up the shop for concern . )
He knew a few words from George Carlin’s list, and liked to share them on stage.
Albert Ellis ’s achievements are innumerable , but one thing of which he was specially proud : “ I was the first psychologist ever to say ‘ f * * * ’ and ‘s * * * ’ at the American Psychological Association conference . ” His Friday night sessions were also known for their colorful employments of profanity .
He was the Stephen Hawking of psychology.
You might not have discover of Albert Ellis , but in many way you ’re living in a man powerfully influenced by his book , thought process , and research . Cognitive behavioral therapy tear through the force field of psychology like a crack cocaine , with Ellis at once dispute the workplace of Freud . Where the latter focused on neuroses from childhood , Ellis called neuroses " a mellow - family word of honor for snivel . " His research close that true progress could be made with rational mentation and accept control of your life-time . Instead of spending years on a healer ’s sofa , he said felicity was really found in " forgetting your graven image - awful past . "
" Your female parent never told you she do it you ? That ’s her right as a frail f***ed - up human being . "
In 1982 , psychologists were ask to order the most important psychotherapist in chronicle . Ellis came in second — one spot ahead of Freud . Years later , psychological science Todayproclaimed him the “ greatest animation psychologist . ”
He was against “musterbation.”
One of Ellis ’s most authoritative contribution to psychological science is call Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy . As he toldPsychology Todayin January 2001 :
There are three “ musts , ” he said , that hold up us back : “ I must do well . You must treat me well . And the world must be easy . ” He splendidly called this “ musterbation , ” and said , “ I sometimes think that as long as we keep the 2nd must , which is socially learned , then some screwballs 100 years from now will construct atomic dud in their bathtub and maybe annihilate the whole human wash because they demand that the rest of the world must agree with their dogma . ”
He was a man of action.
“ The trouble with most therapy is that it help you to feel unspoilt , ” Albert Ellis tell theNew York Timesin 1994 , “ But you do n’t get good . You have to back it up with activity , action , activity . ” Albert Ellis ’s starting tip was break psychotherapy away from Freud , by mode of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy . Until his end at 93 , he put to work sixteen - hour days , and over the course of action of his vocation , he write over three hundred elongate feet of written document ( stacked ) , contained in more than six hundred boxes . His 60 - plus Scripture — many of them bestsellers — included : A Guide to Successful Marriage , Overcoming Procrastination , When AA Does n’t Work For You : Rational Steps to Quitting Alcohol , The Art of Erotic Seduction , Sex Without Guilt , A New Guide to Rational Living , Optimal Aging : Get Over Getting honest-to-god , andThe Myth of Self - Esteem . His last autobiography , put out posthumously , was titled , All Out .
Previously on Retrobituaries : Chuck Jones , the gentleman behind Looney Tunes . See all Retrobituarieshere .
