Albert Ellis Theory

PSYC 377 Theories of Personality Presentation Fall 2015 Samantha Ojeda 12/1/2014

Albert Ellis: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. September 27, 1913, to July 24, 2007. Childhood and Education Albert Ellis, was born in Pittsburgh on September 27, 1913, and raised in New York City. Growing up, had an emotionally distant relationship with his parents, Ellis often described himself as being a "semi-orphan," this because his father spent very little time with Ellis and his family due to constant traveling. His mother was unprepared to raise children because she was self-centered and struggled with being bipolar, which left Ellis feeling as though he had to raise both his mother and siblings. Ellis was also frequently hospitalized because of nephritis

The theory behind REBT is that human beings create their own emotional consequences. What this means is that because emotions and thinking often come hand in hand, people 's thinking becomes their emotion and their emotion becomes their thought. Ellis believed that individuals have a need to be happy and avoid pain, they work and adapt in order to achieve their fullest potential. However, they have irrational thoughts, unsuitable feelings and dysfunctional behaviors that affect their ability to reach their fullest potential. This self-sabotage arises from the tendency of the individual to want, need and to condemn first themselves and then the world around them after they fail to immediately get what they need. According to Ellis emotional disturbance is likely caused by musturbatory belief systems (escalating probabilistic statements into absolutes) which consist of absolute musts (a dogmatic, unrealistic demand placed on oneself), for example "I absolutely must get an A on this upcoming

Cognitive therapy demonstrates how to recognize the should and must thoughts, how to differentiate irrational from rational beliefs and how to accept reality. Emotive-Evocative therapy uses role playing, psychodrama, humor and other ideas in order to convince the individuals that others can accept them even with their failings and to get them to recognize what they are telling themselves when they get these shameful feelings. Behavior therapy is used to help the individual change their maladaptive patterns of behaviors, and to help them change their cognition. REBT therapists assign active homework and will suggest that there will penalties for not doing the assignments. Some therapists use the desensitization approach, which is a process by which anxiety and fears are minimized through gradual exposure to the noxious stimuli, paired it with relaxation, skill training and other behavioral techniques. While others prefer the implosive (sudden, rather than gradual) approach to confrontation of the phobic