In 1982, he was recognized as the second most influential psychotherapist in the world, after Carl Rogers (the third named Sigmund Freud); in 1993 - the first (Ellis, Rogers, Beck). Deservedly shares the laurels of the pioneers of the cognitive approach with A. Beck.

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✪ REBT example from founder Albert Ellis (Russian subtitles)

Subtitles

AE: Hello Gloria! I'm Dr. Ellis...come...sit down. G: Good to see you, Dr. Ellis! AE: So...did you want to tell me about your father or something else? G: Yes... I would like to talk to you... more... about my loneliness... about... how to meet a man... I have one thought... maybe I will refute your book ... but I'm a little depressed after ... reading "Intelligent Woman's Guide to Dating and Mating, Albert Ellis, Jun 1960) I tried to follow the directions in your book))) reading your book was very exciting...although I read a little...but I believe it works.My problem with men is that...I want to get close to a certain type of man...like him.. ... but... I can't... be around this type of man... I'm too shy... I can't... I don't feel an inner click... when I go to meet a man.. I don't think I'll get... ...enough pleasure and interest from the meeting.And...I don't understand...is it me or what is the problem?I...really...want to date men like that type A E: Let's talk about your shyness. Let's say you want to... enjoy your meetings more and... worry less. Let's take a look at how... shyness is formed... what exactly creates it. Do you feel shy around men of this type? G: Yes... but I try not to show it... I close myself... and watch how he reacts to me... I don't seem very smart at this moment... I look like a typical stupid blonde.. .I just... don't know how to deal with a man... I'm out of ideas. AE: Well... as you already know from the book... I believe that people have negative feelings... like shyness, embarrassment, shame... because... they tell themselves something... that puts them in that state. Let's see what you say to yourself before... you get into a state of shyness. G: I don't know for sure... but... I think... ...it's not related to the sexual issue... I'm not closed in on sex... and vice versa... I want it. I'm scared... that this type of man might not like me... as a person. AE: To begin with, let's note... that your guesses may be correct... because... a man can really treat you negatively... ...but... it doesn't have to... To upset you... You can say to yourself... “A man can treat me differently. .. and that's okay" and secondly... "I'll accept this attitude even... if it's absolutely horrible!" G: I agree... but, it's a bit extreme... ... I'll tell myself... "I missed my chance again!" After all... when I meet a man... I want to show my best side... I think... I'm confident enough in myself... and I have something to offer. But...when fear sets in...I show all my worst sides...I'm terrible...I...I go on the defensive because...again I failed to show my best qualities...again missed an opportunity to get close to that person. AE: Okay...but even if it's as you say...and I think it is... ...You should tell yourself a little differently... You should just tell yourself... "Heck! I missed my chance again... Good!.. next time I will use what I have learned this time and... I will show myself much better!” That's what you should tell yourself... when... you feel fear... shame... shyness... and something else very unpleasant... about another lost chance. G: I don't know...does it have anything to do with...what you said... ...I'm afraid that I'm the kind of woman who... ...always attracts the wrong men? There's something wrong with me... I've never met the man I wanted... I've always run into... others. AE: Okay... now you're closer to what I'm talking about... You're saying... "If I'm that type of woman... who can't attract the man I want... then... that's awful.. .I won't be able to get what I want...and it...in fact...it will be just that! G: Of course! I don't want to think of myself that way! I think that my level is much higher... I don't like to think that I...maybe...are only worthy of average men. AE: Let's just assume that's the way it is... You are an absolutely average woman who deserves average men... Is it that terrible? That would be unpleasant... uncomfortable? But...feelings...like shyness...embarrassment...shame...could they be caused by the feeling that you are only worthy of average men? G: I don't know... AE: I know they can, because... you keep believing in your low level and it's... sad. It will be very bad...it will be terrible...if you are not good enough... G: Then...I will never get what I want!!! I will never accept that I am only worthy of average men... then I will not get what I want!!! I don't want to spend the rest of my life with a boring man! AE: I'll add... your chances are further reduced by the fact that... some boring girls date interesting men. G: Yes, exactly! AE: The main thing you said is... "That might be it... I'm having a hard time right now", but then you jump to another opinion... "I'll never get what I want" And so you create catastrophe. G: Yes... but that's how I feel at the moment... I feel like the failures will go on forever. AE: Absolutely right! But it is this belief that instills uncertainty in you. You become completely unsure of yourself. G: Yes... yes. AE: Uncertainty arises because... You talk about... that you want to be with a certain man... you want to be an interesting woman for him and you want... ... that he be interesting to you. G: Yes! AE: But... "If I don't get it now, then... then I'm not good enough and I'll never get what I want." Don't you think that's too hard thinking? G: Yes! AE: That's what I call a disaster... there's a piece of undeniable truth in what you said... ...if...you don't get the man you want, then...it's...really going to be...extremely unpleasant and disappointing. You say that... you will never get what you want... and you add that... in connection with this, you will never be a happy person. Are you talking about this? G: Yes! AE: Well... let's assume the worst... as Bertrand Russell advised us... let's say you never get the man you want... are there... any... other ways to be happy? G: I just want to... own the process... I don't like... how I feel. Okay! .. let's say that this is not even a disaster. AE: Yes! If I don't even look at it as a catastrophe... I don't like it anyway... the way I live now!!! For example...if I meet someone...who I'm interested in...whom I see potential...I get nervous and can't relax with him...I feel bad around him...although I should be more friendly and caring. If I stay closed, then I can't be...what I want to be. I want to be myself... but I lack confidence... I worry too much... AE: You're not just worried... You're very worried! You have anxiety! Because... if you just had anxiety... you could say to yourself... "It's great if I'm worried... and if I'm not worried... then... that's great!!! Now I have what I have!” But... when you worry again, you tell yourself... “If I don’t have what I want right now, then ... I will never get it!!! That's just terrible!!! I have to get it now or never!!!" Is it this kind of thinking that makes you worried? G: Yes, if I'm not happy with myself. If I don't have what I want right now, then I feel like I'm... on the... wrong track. AE: I hear you want guarantees. I advise you to say... "I would like to... be sure to be on the right track" G: No, Dr. Ellis, I mean a little different... actually... I want... to take a step towards the right way. AE: Who's stopping you? G: I don't know... I don't understand... what's happening to me. I don't know...why I can't attract a man...why I start to defend myself...why fear arises. Can you help me... to understand... why... am I so afraid? AE: In my opinion...the reason for your fear is...not that you can't find a common language with the right man...if we take...meeting a new man...you don't know the right one yet he or not... but the fear will already be... because you are afraid of not getting what you want... to miss this man and all the rest... you are afraid of never getting what... what you want.. .and... perceive it as something terrible. You are building a disaster in your head. G: You said it rudely, but... in general... it is. But... I... do it... for a reason... AE: What are you doing? G: If I do something... I really like it... I'm really interested in it... ... AE: That's right! I would be more real... if I didn't want to bring this man closer. I would enjoy life more... if I was real. And I give him not the most pleasant part of me. AE: Right! G: How can anyone respect me... if... then... who I am... isn't true? AE: Let's look at it the other way. Let's say... you show your... not the most pleasant part. A man is watching you... he doesn't like your unpleasant part... it doesn't make him happy... but... I think he doesn't despise you as a person... as you yourself think. G: I make life difficult for myself by thinking this way. Why am I so worried... about whether he likes me... it's enough that I like him! AE: Right! As I said earlier... if people don't like you... then finding someone... who will love you is difficult... but... it's possible... You can meet as those who don't like... and those ... who like it. However... pay attention... how you lower yourself... in the eyes of other people. .. focusing not on... "how can I be myself"... but on... how to like. For example... let's imagine that a person has an injured hand... If he focuses on his problems with his hand... then... he forgets about himself as a whole... and cannot demonstrate his personality to others... he focuses attention... on his weak side... and cannot do what he would like to do. G: Yes, that's exactly what I do! AE: Yes, that's right... if you think about a part of yourself... about your hand... ...totally focus on thinking about your problematic part... ...you do the same with your... shyness... ...not accepting yourself for who you are... when you're around men... you focus so much on your weaknesses... that you forget about the big picture... who you really are The defective part that you think about does not allow you to relax and ... think that you are doing everything well ... You cannot accept yourself ... because of this defective part of yourself. .. ...because of what you think of her. When you understand this... the problem becomes quite simple... you just need to work on yourself and practice... ...a new attitude towards this destructive part. Let's get back to the point of our conversation... How can you be yourself? worry... but... You can say to yourself: “OK... I understand what is happening to me... I'm just learning... it's not as good... as I would like... but. .. despite this... I will continue to act stupid... as usual... ... I understand that you need to make mistakes in order to learn something. Okay... then... when you allow yourself to make mistakes... You stop being afraid to be yourself... Because... all you want to do on a date... is be yourself... You don't want to win a prize on a date... You don't want to marry this man and... live with him for a long time... G: I want a long-term relationship... I'm thinking about living with this man for a long time... AE: Okay... a long-term relationship ...but they can't be done right on a date... It is necessary to take a certain set of actions... in order to create a strong relationship... Thus... You come to accept yourself... however... if you continue to worry... ...about your shortcomings... You keep withdrawing into yourself... and it's worth asking yourself. .. "What do I really want to do with this man? .. Do I want to please him? .. ...and do I want him to please me?" After all, joy ... is the basis of life ... which cannot be lost. And you need the effort... to take the risk... to be like that. Because... if you get what you want... that's great... but if you don't... then you get upset. If you can't please him. Or he doesn't make you happy. Because... don't forget... if a man refused you... then you think: "It's my fault!!!" You know... it could be your cup of tea... or his... or maybe it's nobody's fault... it's reality... You're just incompatible... G: Yes... I agree... AE : So... if you want to really accept yourself as you are... then you have to make an effort... to work on yourself... to complete the tasks that I will give you... and in this way. .. raise yourself to the level... where you can speak your mind and... be yourself... at least for a while! Even... if it's dangerous... and can hurt you... you found yourself... you started to be yourself... but... as soon as... you lose yourself... look at yourself from the outside... and you will understand... that it was impossible to remain calm in this situation... because... You can watch yourself... your feelings... but you cannot remain calm... G : So... it's my habit... to worry... AE: After a while... after you take the risk... to work on yourself... ...starting a conversation with a man of the right like... and realizing... that you might seem like a fool... ...he won't like you at all... and lose this man forever... only after that... you start to go with the flow... be who you want to be... and I guarantee... practice will help you become more resilient... to your... shyness... because you will stop focusing on that "Oh... my God... . ..how terrible what I'm doing"... and start focusing on that... who you're dealing with... start thinking about... "how can I make this person happy?" focus on the relationship with the man... G: Wait... how can I make him happy... if I'm not satisfied with myself? AE: Because... as I said before... "if I can't enjoy who I am... then I can't accept myself... therefore... a man can't like me... » G: Yes... I agree with you, doctor... ...in the future... in contacts with men... . ..i would like to feel great...accept myself...now i'm constantly on my toes and...protective... ...i'm constantly watching what i'm saying...because i'm a bit I've had a drink... ...I can't just relax and enjoy life... AE: You're giving me the opportunity to demonstrate the principles of REBT... ...why the other ways don't work...because...if Do you really want to... ...want to understand yourself...using different tools... ...for example...if you are like playing a game and want to win it...you say to yourself ... "I have to win today"...or.. "I have to win tomorrow"... "I have to WIN!!!" ... each time concentrating... on... how to be nice to your man... ... you will never be yourself... you will never accept yourself... ... however... if You ask yourself... "what do I want to do with my life?" ... and this path must be approved by some person ... and let's see ... is there such a person ... who approves exactly your path ... AE: Do you understand? G: Yes! AE: Let's spend more time... ...finding a constructive solution to the problem... ...let's think more specifically about what you can do... You asked me...where do you need to go to meet the right people? people... ...I said... I don't know a specific place, but... I think you can make friends anywhere... ...if you...really...can do what oh what we said... take the risk of being yourself... and focus on... what you yourself want to get out of life... ... and... you have to understand... restructuring will take time... it's exactly like that... ...and it's not scary... and you know... why it's not scary to spend time on it... ...because... you can live openly... without embarrassment. .. with any new contacts... ... no matter... where the meeting is... on the bus... in a taxi... at a party... ... anywhere... you can talk with the people you want... ...ask your friends... if they have any nice acquaintances... but, the main thing... you have to... a) like yourself, even if... you do something wrong... and b)... keep calm... no matter how bad you feel... Now... like I said... if you were my patient... I would give you homework... ... intentionally... quite consciously... getting yourself into trouble situations... . .. find a man who pleases you. ... and... force yourself to take risks... ... force yourself to be yourself... G: You mean... that... if I go to the doctor... I should start flirting with him.. ...only...because...I like him...? AE: That's right! G: Can I just start talking to him about personal matters? AE: Why not? If you like it? AE: It's easy for you))) ... but it seems quite difficult to me))) ... AE: That's what I'm talking about... what can you lose in this situation? The worst thing... ...that can happen... is that you will be rejected. But you won't take it as a rejection... ...if you take a rejection... as homework. G: Oh yes! AE: Now... can you try it? G: I think... I think... quite :) You made me look at it from the other side... You're right... all I can get is a rejection. AE: Right! And of course... You have to do this action at the moment... when you want... When you do your homework... I would be very interested to know... how it went... G: Oooh. .. I'll be very happy to tell you:))) AE: Well... it was very nice to meet you, Gloria... G: Thank you, doctor :) ...translation and subtitles - Igor Nepovny...

Biography

Albert Ellis grew up as the eldest child in a Jewish family in Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania), where his parents emigrated from Russia in 1910. Parents moved to New York and divorced when the boy was 12 years old. All further life of Ellis is connected with this city. He graduated from City University (Bachelor of Business) and after graduating tried business and writing for a while, but soon became interested in psychology. At the end of the 30s. he entered Columbia University's Department of Clinical Psychology (M.A. in 1943), defended his thesis (Ph.D., 1946), and received further psychoanalytic training at the Karen Horney Institute. Ellis was greatly influenced by Karen Horney, as well as Alfred Adler, Erich Fromm, and Harry Sullivan, but by the mid-1950s he had become disillusioned with psychoanalysis and began to develop his own approach. In 1955, this approach was called rational therapy.

Ellis founded and until recently headed the Albert Ellis Institute in New York, until the institution's board removed him from his position. Albert Ellis, despite being completely deaf, continued his active work independently. On January 30, a New York court ruled that it was illegal to remove him from office.

Studies in Sexual Relations and Love

Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT)

Rational-emotional behavioral therapy (REBT) (formerly "RT" and "RET") is a "theoretically consistent eclecticism" of various psychotherapeutic methods: cognitive, emotional and behavioral. A distinctive feature of REBT is the division of all emotions experienced by a person into rational (productive) and irrational (unproductive, destructive, dysfunctional), the cause of which is irrational beliefs (sometimes - "irrational beliefs", English "irrational beliefs").

Since Ellis began his career as a psychotherapist as a psychoanalyst, it is not surprising that his views were strongly influenced by the ideas of psychoanalysts such as Karen Horney and Alfred Adler. However, Ellis subsequently parted ways with psychoanalysis, and as a result, according to authors and proponents, REBT is a humanistic form of therapy, the consequence of which is one of the main therapeutic principles of REBT - unconditional acceptance ("unconditional positive attitude" in the terminology of K. Rogers) by the therapist of the client as a person while maintaining a critical attitude towards his negative actions.

Moreover, in describing the relation of the REBT therapist to the client, Ellis puts the whole triad of Rogers in the first place. In addition, the list includes humor (only where it is appropriate; humor as an ironic and cheerful attitude to life, but not jokes about the personality, feelings, thoughts and actions of the client), informality (but not entertainment at psychotherapy sessions that are held outside the client's money), a cautious manifestation of immense warmth towards the client (excessive emotional empathy is also harmful). Ellis defined the role of the REBT therapist as an authoritative and inspiring teacher who tries to teach his clients how to be their own therapist after the formal sessions are over.

The validity of the main theoretical provisions and the therapeutic efficacy of REBT are confirmed by many experimental studies.

REBT is divided into general REBT (aimed at teaching clients rational behavior in problem areas) and preferred REBT (teaching clients self-help using REBT methods).

ABC model

The ABC (sometimes "A-B-C") model of the occurrence of mental disorders states that dysfunctional emotions, denoted by the letter "C" (" consequences", English. consequences ), arise not under the influence of " activating events" (sometimes - " activators» the letter "A", eng. activating events ), but under the influence of irrational beliefs(sometimes - " beliefs", the letter "B", eng. beliefs ), formulated in the form of absolutist claims or " obligations"(eng. demands) .

The key to positive change the model considers detection, analysis and active challenging irrational beliefs (corresponds to stage "D" in the extended model ABCDE - English disputation) followed by consolidation of the results ("E", English end result) . To do this, clients are trained to notice and distinguish dysfunctional emotions and look for their cognitive causes.

Mental health and its criteria for REBT

A psychologically healthy person is characterized by the philosophy of relativism, "wishes";

Rational derivatives from this philosophy (rational, because they usually contribute to the achievement of their goals by people or the formation of new ones, if the previous goals cannot be realized) are:

1. assessment - determining the unpleasantness of an event (instead of dramatization);
2. tolerance - I admit that an unpleasant event has occurred, I evaluate its unpleasantness and try to change it or, if it is impossible to change it, I accept the situation and implement other goals (instead of "I won't survive this");
3. acceptance - I accept that people are imperfect and do not have to behave differently than they do now, I accept that people are too complex and changeable to give them a global categorical assessment, and I accept living conditions as they are eat (instead of condemnation);

Thus, the main criteria for human psychological health:

• Observance of own interests.
• social interest.
• Self management.
• High tolerance for frustration.
• Flexibility.
• Acceptance of uncertainty.
• Dedication to creative pursuits.
• Scientific thinking.
• Self acceptance.
• Riskiness.
• Delayed hedonism.
• Anti-utopianism.
• Responsibility for your emotional disorders.

Awards and prizes

• - Humanist of the Year Award from the American Humanist Association.
• - Award from the American Psychological Association "for outstanding professional contributions to applied research" .
• - American Counseling Association Professional Achievement Award.
• and - Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies awards.

Religious and philosophical views

Albert Ellis was agnostic in his religious beliefs, arguing that God "probably does not exist", while not denying the possibility of his existence. In "Sex Without Guilt" Ellis A. Sex Without Guilt. - NY: Hillman, 1958) the scientist expressed the opinion that religious dogma, imposing restrictions on the expression of sexual experiences, often adversely affects people's mental health.

Ellis's main philosophical views fit within the framework of the concepts of humanism and stoicism. In his books and interviews, the scientist often quoted his favorite philosophers:

Many excellent specialist papers have been published on Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy (REBT), including some of our own (Bernard, 1991; Bernard & Wolfe, 1993; Dryden, 1994a, 1994b, 1995a, 1995b; Dryden & DiGiuseppe, 1990; Dryden & Hill , 1993; Dryden & Neenan, 1995; Ellis, 1985c, 1994c, 1996a; Ellis & Crieger, 1986; Walen, DiGiuseppe, & Dryden, 1992; Yankura & Dryden, 1990,1994). However, none of these books systematically describes the clinical applications of REBT, such as its use in individual, marital, family, group, and intensive therapy. Thus, there has not yet been a work that would systematically summarize the procedure for conducting REBT.

We have previously published articles and monographs covering important aspects of REBT practice (Dryden, 1985b; Ellis, 1971a, 1985c, 1993b), but some of these works are outdated and out of print. Therefore, in this paper, we have revised and modernized material from previous years and added several chapters on new REBT developments - in general, we tried to create a book that would provide a comprehensive picture of REBT. Such a presentation of the principles of REBT would enable any interested psychotherapist to use its basic clinical techniques more effectively.

This book does not cover all aspects of REBT. In some of the publications already mentioned, certain methods of using REBT are described in more detail, but here they are only mentioned in passing. The same can be said about the use of REBT in psychological educational practice, for example, in courses, seminars and intensive rational-emotional behavioral training. However, those who wish to use the most popular clinical REBT methods will find their most detailed description in this book. We do not expect this work to replace all other REBT publications, but at the same time we hope that it will become an essential and useful addition to them. .

Albert Ellis, PhD

WindyDryden, PhD

Foreword

The book brought to your attention is the result of more than 50 years of history of the development of cognitive-emotional behavioral psychotherapy. Of course, the main role in the development of this method of non-medical psychotherapy belongs to Albert Ellis. The new method of psychotherapy created by him and developed in detail has become widespread in the world and today enjoys well-deserved recognition of both psychotherapists and their clients, as evidenced by the success of the Ellis Institute and the books he wrote.

Albert Ellis was born in Pittsburgh in 1913 and grew up in New York. One way or another, all of Ellis's professional activities are connected with this city, which caused him a lot of trouble. Only a high degree of self-confidence and the ability to benefit from life's difficulties through their rational processing and problem solving allowed Ellis to find a way to help others overcome difficulties. Health problems in early childhood forced Ellis to change sports to reading, conflicts in the family (Ellis's parents divorced when he was 12 years old) taught Ellis to be attentive to the inner world of a person and strive to understand other people.

Initially, Ellis planned to engage in literary activities. He wanted to get a degree in economics so that by the age of 30 he would earn enough money for a quiet literary work. Ellis graduated from New York University in 1934 with a master's degree in business administration. Together with his brother, they founded the first enterprise. In 1938, Ellis received a position as chief of staff in a small firm. In parallel with his work in the field of business, Ellis was engaged in literary work, by the age of 28 he already had more than two dozen manuscripts that he could not publish anywhere. Wanting to somehow increase the attractiveness of his manuscripts for publishers, Ellis decided to write several works on sexual issues and began to collect materials for a book on sexual freedom. As Ellis discussed the collected material extensively with friends, he came to be regarded as something of an expert on the subject. Many of his friends began to turn to Ellis for advice, and he found that he enjoyed counseling as much as writing. Ellis took up his education again. In 1943, he received a master's degree in clinical psychology from Columbia University (New York). Already at this time, he opens a private psychotherapeutic practice for family and sexual problems. In 1947, Ellis enters graduate school and decides to start training analysis in order to become a psychoanalyst a few years later. This turned out to be no easy task, since most psychoanalytic institutes focused on psychologists with doctoral degrees. Nevertheless, Ellis manages to find an analyst from the Karen Horney group, who agrees to work with him. Ellis underwent a full analysis and began the practice of a classical psychoanalyst. In the 40s, Ellis worked as a psychoanalyst in educational institutions and clinics, but his faith in psychoanalysis quickly collapsed. Drawing on the experience of his consulting work, Ellis began to experiment with more directive interventions than was common in psychoanalysis. By 1955, Ellis had completely moved away from psychoanalysis and began to develop his own style of psychotherapy, based on the analysis and change of the beliefs and beliefs of clients, their ideas about what should and should be. In 1957, Ellis published How to Live with a Neurotic. Two years later, Ellis founded his Institute for Rational Emotional Therapy, where he began to conduct consultations and seminars for psychotherapists. In 1960, his book The Art and Science of Love was published, which was a great success.

Rational Emotive Therapy - Direction in cognitive psychotherapy (Albert Ellis), based on the elimination of irrational judgments of a patient suffering from neurosis. The key is the so-called ABC theory, according to which a certain negative manifestation of emotions (frustration, disappointment) or behavior (C) is awakened to life not directly by any event (A), but only indirectly, through a system of interpretations or beliefs ( AT). The purpose of psychotherapeutic work is to discover and eliminate the system of pathogenetic interpretations that lead to a violation of emotional and behavioral reactions.

Ellis emphasized that people do not have direct reactions to most situations, that emotional reactions depend on the way events are perceived. Thus, it is not events that excite, upset, irritate or anger us, but the way in which a person interprets and comprehends them.

Illustration: the child hears when the father yells at him, gets upset at this; however, a housemate who hears exactly the same "objective stimuli" does not react at all to this parental outburst (or reacts differently: angry, for example).

Ellis is based on the fact that people can and do have maladaptive and irrational ways of interpreting events that cause emotional disorders of such an intensity that can in no way be justified by a real rational assessment of the event.

Ellis models emotional behavior in a sequence easily remembered as a simple mnemonic ABC:

The relationship between A and C is unpredictable if we do not know B. That is, if we know that such and such an individual has got into such and such a situation (for example, his leg was crushed in public transport), but we do not know the model of the human world ( at least in key moments), then the consequences of his actions are difficult to predict (a person with a crushed leg can make a scandal, can cry, can start lecturing, can ignore, can immediately get into a fight ...).

Types of irrational judgments

Ellis divided irrational judgments into four types:

1. "Must" indicate that someone (or something) must be different from what it is ("I must win the game", "He must be nice to me", "Everyone must be honest with me") . At the heart of such judgments lies some kind of obsessive goal-setting.

2. "Horrors" judgments are based on the fact that everything is terrible, creepy and nightmarish, because everything is not as it should be ("It will be terrible if I do not finish cleaning before my husband arrives", "It's terrible that my plan was figured out, now I'm done "). Such judgments are based on strongly negative emotions, and there is a "fear of horror".

3. Judgments "property" reflect a person’s inability to endure or endure the world if it differs from what it “should” or “should” be (“I can’t stand it if it turns out that my best friend is a deceiver”, “Everyone around turned out to be enemies, and I I can't transfer").

4. "Deprecating" judgments belittle the person (one's own or that person, because of which the situation became not what it "should" or "should" be). Such judgments are based on an infantile model of the world, in which people are divided into good and bad, good and evil, and also an infantile idea of ​​the duty of each person to encourage or punish good or bad. Examples: "He is a terrible person, should be punished for being late", "If he says another bad word to me, I will understand that he is a scoundrel, and then I will take revenge on him."

Twelve basic irrational ideas according to Ellis

Concretizing, Ellis identified the most typical, "core" irrational ideas that explicitly or implicitly underlie most emotional disorders.

1. For an adult, it is absolutely necessary that his every step be attractive to others.

2. There are vicious, bad deeds, and those responsible for them should be severely punished.

3. It's a disaster when things don't go as planned.

4. All troubles are imposed on us from the outside - by people or circumstances.

5. If something scares or causes fear - you need to be on the alert.

6. It is easier to avoid responsibility and difficulties than to overcome them.

7. Everyone needs something stronger and more significant than what he feels in himself.

8. One must be competent, adequate, reasonable and successful in all respects. You need to know everything, be able to do everything, understand everything and achieve success in everything.

9. What had a strong impact on your life once will always affect it later.

10. Our well-being is influenced by the actions of other people, so we must do everything so that these people change in the direction we want.

11. Going with the flow and doing nothing is the way to happiness.

12. We have no control over our emotions and cannot help but experience them.

Typical scheme of work in RET

1. Prove to the client the viability of rational-emotive therapy. To state the theoretical foundations of RET in an accessible language. Consider real life examples. Enter the ABC model and explain to the client the main idea of ​​the therapy. Give an example of irrational and rational thoughts due to such a social event that would be understandable and close to the client. Discuss the rational or irrational behavioral and emotional consequences of these judgments.

2. Get the client's consent to consider his own irrational judgments using the RET apparatus.

3. The therapist discusses and challenges the client's irrational judgments. Present a list of identified irrational statements and discuss with the client why these statements are irrational and what rational statements can replace them. It's a good idea to write down these rational statements.

4. The client is encouraged to develop his own arguments against irrational judgments, to practice with them, and to replace irrational judgments with more appropriate assessments of activating events. Have the client define their own situation. Discuss with him what irrational thoughts come to his mind in such a situation and what consequences this situation most often leads to. Write down these conceivable consequences and invite the client to produce and write down more rational thoughts.

5. Development of new rational and realistic judgments about events, actual and possible. At this final stage, it is important to develop and strengthen the "refurbished" model of the client's world.

6. Encouraging the client to identify irrational thoughts, feelings and actions that arise in certain problem situations. Situations should be specific, causing certain difficulties. It is preferable, for example, to say: “When I see an attractive girl, I think ... What if I don’t find something to say ... And here I will stand, staring like a fool, with my mouth open ...” (to irrational thoughts #3 and #8 from the list of irrational ideas can be applied to this statement). Less preferred are general statements such as "When I am among people, I have no self-confidence." In order to help clients capture all the collisions of problematic situations, we used a simple imagination technique. Clients are asked to close their eyes, relax, and imagine recent problematic situations, and then talk about thoughts and feelings they had in those specific situations.

7. After identifying several situations, you need to arrange them according to the criterion of difficulty (you can rely on the degree of stressfulness of the situation). If possible, situations are arranged in a hierarchy.

8. The therapist presents each of the problem situations, starting with the easiest. Situations are presented in discussion, in imagination, in real life. The client is instructed to describe their feelings and thoughts during each presentation. The purpose of the exercise is to ensure that a certain emotional state becomes a signal to search for irrational thoughts in oneself. At this stage, thoughts will appear less carefully packaged and labeled. The therapist's job is to delve deeper into the client's statements and correlate them. When the therapist decides that he is able to formulate the client's thoughts, he can either ask the client to generalize which irrational judgment is predominant in him, or he himself makes a generalization.

9. As each irrational idea is presented, it is challenged by the therapist. The therapist then gradually encourages the client to take on the challenger role himself. This process is controversial. The client is asked if his judgments are 100% true, inevitable and based on hard facts. Counter-examples are presented and the client is led to formulate more rational judgments about the activating event and imagine what results these rational judgments might lead to.

10. The client is presented with activating events (in imagination, role-play, or real life) and invited to exercise rational alternatives in the presence of the therapist. The therapist teaches the client how to control their emotional reaction (here the most convenient method is the “fear thermometer” with divisions from 0 to 100 points). In the initial stages, the therapist also acts as a prompter and compiler of rehearsed rational judgments. Control and exercise are continued until the given activating event no longer evokes intense emotion.

Hometasks

At different stages of therapy, you can give the client homework, which the client talks about at subsequent meetings. Here are examples of homework:

1. Ask the client to identify (in addition to those discussed in the sessions) two more of their real life problems and identify the ABC sequence in them. Let him try to find more rational judgments and study the consequences to which they may lead.

2. The therapist asks the client to try the technique of turning irrational judgments into rational ones in real life situations. This practice and the improvements made are recorded in a diary.

Albert Ellis

Psycho-training according to the method of Albert Ellis

HOW THIS BOOK IS DIFFERENT FROM OTHER BOOKS!

Every year, readers are introduced to hundreds of new books published in the Self-Help series, many of which really bring real benefits. Why write another one? Moreover, my book "A New Path to Intelligent Life" co-written with Robert A. Harper, has already sold a million copies? It's not just to complement "Zone, your mistakes", read by millions of people? Why then?

There are several good reasons for this. Despite the fact that rational-emotive therapy (RET), which I created in 1955 has now taken its rightful place in psychology, and psychotherapists (as well as psychoanalysts) increasingly include large fragments of my methods in their program of work with patients - unfortunately, it is often used in a somewhat "diluted" form.

Apart from my own writings on RET, no book gives a clear exposition of its essence. Those books in which such attempts are made are, as a rule, written in a language that is difficult to understand for a wide range of readers. This publication aims to fill this gap.

The book sets specific goals. Moreover, they are solved - and this radically distinguishes my book from others devoted to the problems of mental and mental health.

This book encourages you to openly express the strong feelings that overwhelm you in difficult moments of life. But at the same time, it makes a clear distinction between the perfectly appropriate natural feelings of concern, sadness, disappointment, or irritation, and the misplaced, destructive feelings of panic, depression, rage, or self-pity.

This book will teach you how to deal with difficult life situations and how to stay in the saddle in any circumstances. But the most important thing is that this book not only gives feeling of a better life but also capable really change your life for the better, provided that you stop shaking your own nerves and burdening yourself with guilt.

This book will not only teach you how can to control oneself and keep emotions under control, will not only show how can stubbornly refuse to be unhappy in any (yes, yes, really in any!) situation, but will also explain in detail that exactly you have to do in order to gain control over yourself.

This book is based on the positions of scientific research thinking and real life views. She completely rejects mysticism, religiosity and utopian concepts, which in our time are actively preached in many publications on the topic "Help yourself."

This book will help you gain a new philosophical outlook on life instead of the naive Pollyanna-style "positive thinking" that can only handle temporary difficulties and is sure to fail you in the long run.

This book offers many methods of personal development that are not based on isolated, sometimes anecdotal "cases of life", but are verified through rigorous scientific research.

This book will show you how you create problems for yourself. However, it will not force you to waste time and energy on digging into your past, again and again mentally returning to your mistakes and mistakes. She will show you how still continue in vain to spoil your own mood and that At the moment needs to be done to stop it.

This book will help you find the courage to take responsibility for what happens to you, without blaming everything on your parents, surroundings and improper upbringing.

This book lays out the basics of RET (as well as other types of cognitive and behavioral-cognitive therapy) in a simple and accessible way. It demonstrates that it is not the activating events in your life (A) but rather your belief system (B) that directly underpins emotional outcomes (C). You must gain the ability to challenge (D) your irrational beliefs (iBs) and change them. The book contains many emotive and behavioral techniques aimed at suppressing irrational ideas, changing the style of thinking and gaining a new effective philosophy of life (E).

This book shows how it is possible, while maintaining our desires, aspirations, preferences, goals and value system, while refusing excessive demands and commandments - all these categorical imperatives "should" or "should" that surround our desires and attachments, dooming us to useless suffering.

This book will help you gain independence and inner freedom, show you how to think on one's own, not succumbing to the suggestion of the way of thinking that is being imposed on you other.

This book contains tons of useful RET exercises to help you rethink! and rebuild your life.

This book will tell you how to become reasonable in our unreasonable world; how to become happy in the most difficult and "unbearable" conditions - as much as you yourself want. It will convince us that a person is capable of refusing to become unhappy even in extremely sad situations - in poverty, under the threat of terror, in illness or in war; it stubbornly proves that a person is able to change in his favor not only the most difficult situations, but also, to a certain extent, the whole world.

This book will help to recognize the roots of perverse thinking inherent in fanaticism, intolerance, dogmatism, tyranny, despotism - and will teach you how to deal with such manifestations of neurosis.

The book offers a wide range of techniques aimed at taming strong and destructive emotions such as anxiety, depression, hostility, contempt or self-pity. More than any other psychotherapeutic school, RET is an eclectic school. At the same time, she is highly selective and does her best to eliminate dangerous and ineffective methods of psychotherapy from her practice.

RET is a school of practice. RET gets to the heart of the disorder quickly and effectively and tells you what to do to help yourself as quickly as possible.

This book will teach you how to become an honest hedonist and individualist - that is, how to take care of yourself first, while at the same time interacting successfully and kindly with others. It will help us not only preserve, but even put into consideration your personal goals and ideals, while remaining a full-fledged citizen of your country.

The book is simple and - I hope - exceptionally clear, but far from primitive. Her wisdom, gleaned from the most worthy philosophers and psychologists, is practical in an everyday way and at the same time very deep.

This book is a collection of therapeutic techniques developed from the most rapidly developing modern therapies - rational-emotive and cognitive-behavioral, which are now widespread due to the benefits they have brought and bring to millions of patients and thousands of therapists. The book includes all the best that is contained in the methods of self-healing, on the basis of which these types of therapy were developed, in a form adapted for a wide range of readers - that is, this book is for YOU.

So, does this book really tell you how to learn to voluntarily refuse to be unhappy in any situation? At any? Really? Truth? Besides jokes? Yes, this is actually the case - if you sincerely listen (LISTEN) and work (WORK), perceiving and practicing the knowledge gained in practice.

Will you listen?

You will work?

Will you THINK?

After all, you really know how.

I hope. that's the way it will be.

IS IT ALWAYS POSSIBLE TO REFUSE TO BE UNHAPPY?

The main idea of ​​this book is quite original. It can be formulated as follows: for the most part, human grief and serious emotional disorders are completely unnecessary, and moreover, unethical. That is, how is it - unethical?! Yes, very simply, because by allowing anxiety or depression to overcome you, you are acting against himself- and therefore act in relation to to yourself unfair and dishonest.

Your restless state has an adverse effect on the people around you. It upsets your family and friends and even, to some extent, people who are not directly related to you. The price of panic, anger, self-pity is unreasonably high. It is expressed in wasted time and money, in unnecessary efforts, in vain mental anxiety, in disregard for the interests of other people, in a stupid waste of opportunities to enjoy your only one - yes, yes, the only- life.

American psychologist and cognitive therapist, author of rational-emotional behavioral therapy, an approach in psychotherapy that considers negative emotions and dysfunctional behavioral reactions as appearing not as a result of experience in itself, but as a result of the interpretation of this experience, that is, as a result of incorrect cognitive attitudes - irrational beliefs. He was also known as a sexologist and one of the ideologists of the sexual revolution.

Created and was President of the Albert Ellis Institute - The Albert Ellis Institute.

In 1982 he was recognized as the second most influential psychotherapist in the world, after Carl Rogers (the third named Sigmund Freud); in 1993 - the first (Ellis, Rogers, Beck). Deservedly shares with A. Beck the laurels of the pioneers of the cognitive approach.

Biography

Albert Ellis grew up as the eldest child in a Jewish family in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where his parents emigrated from Russia in 1910. Parents moved to New York and divorced when the boy was 12 years old. All further life of Ellis is connected with this city. He graduated from City University (Bachelor of Business) and after graduating tried business and writing for a while, but soon became interested in psychology. At the end of the 30s. he entered Columbia University's Department of Clinical Psychology (MA in 1943), defended his thesis (Ph.D., 1946), and received further psychoanalytic training at the Karen Horney Institute. Ellis was greatly influenced by Karen Horney, as well as Alfred Adler, Erich Fromm, and Harry Sullivan, but by the mid-1950s he had become disillusioned with psychoanalysis and began developing his own approach. In 1955, this approach was called rational therapy.

Ellis founded and until recently headed the Albert Ellis Institute in New York, until the organization's board removed him from his position. Albert Ellis, despite being completely deaf, continued his active work independently. On January 30, 2006, a New York court ruled that it was illegal to remove him from office.

Scientific and practical activities

Albert Ellis devoted most of his life to psychotherapeutic practice and counseling: first non-professional, then as a psychoanalyst. Later, he becomes disillusioned with psychoanalysis and publishes the article "Telepathy and psychoanalysis: a critique of recent findings", containing criticisms of anti-scientific mysticism and the occult in the psychological literature.

In the 1950s and 60s, Ellis created the foundations of rational-emotional behavioral therapy (REBT) and its central model for the occurrence of emotional disorders - the ABC Model. Throughout the rest of his life, the scientist develops this new direction of psychotherapy, paying special attention to the experimental verification of the truth of the main provisions of the theory and the effectiveness of the therapeutic methods used.

Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT)

Rational Emotional Behavioral Therapy (REBT) (formerly "RT" and "RET") is a "theoretically consistent eclecticism" of various psychotherapeutic methods: cognitive, emotional and behavioral. A distinctive feature of REBT is the division of all emotions experienced by a person into rational (productive) and irrational (unproductive, destructive, dysfunctional), the cause of which is irrational beliefs (sometimes - "irrational beliefs", English "irrational beliefs").

Since Ellis began his career as a psychotherapist as a psychoanalyst, it is not surprising that his views were strongly influenced by the ideas of such psychoanalysts as Karen Horney and Alfred Adler. However, Ellis subsequently diverged from psychoanalysis, and as a result, according to the authors and supporters, REBT is a humanistic form of therapy, which results in one of the main therapeutic principles of REBT - unconditional acceptance ("unconditional positive attitude" in the terminology of K. Rogers) by the client's therapist as a person while maintaining a critical attitude towards his negative actions.

Moreover, in describing the relation of the REBT therapist to the client, Ellis puts the whole triad of Rogers in the first place. In addition, the list includes humor (only where it is appropriate; humor as an ironic and cheerful attitude to life, but not jokes about the personality, feelings, thoughts and actions of the client), informality (but not entertainment at psychotherapy sessions that are held outside the client's money), a cautious manifestation of immense warmth towards the client (excessive emotional empathy is also harmful). Ellis defined the role of the REBT therapist as an authoritative and inspiring teacher who tries to teach his clients how to be their own therapist after the formal sessions are over.

The validity of the main theoretical provisions and the therapeutic efficacy of REBT are confirmed by many experimental studies.

ABC model

The ABC (sometimes “A-B-C”) model of the occurrence of mental disorders states that dysfunctional emotions, denoted by the letter “C” (“consequences”, English consequences), do not arise under the influence of “activating events” (sometimes “activators” letter “A ”, English activating events), but under the influence of irrational beliefs (sometimes - “beliefs”, the letter “B”, English beliefs), formulated in the form of absolutist requirements or “shoulds”.

The key to positive changes in the model is the discovery, analysis and active challenge of irrational beliefs (corresponds to stage "D" in the extended model ABCDE - English disputation) with subsequent consolidation of the results ("E", English end result). To do this, clients are trained to notice and distinguish dysfunctional emotions and look for their cognitive causes.

Mental health and its criteria for REBT

A psychologically healthy person is characterized by the philosophy of relativism, "wishes";

Rational derivatives of this philosophy (rational, because they usually contribute to the achievement of people's goals or the formation of new ones if the previous goals cannot be realized) are:

1. assessment - determining the unpleasantness of an event (instead of dramatization);
2. tolerance - I admit that an unpleasant event has occurred, I evaluate its unpleasantness and try to change it or, if it is impossible to change it, I accept the situation and implement other goals (instead of "I won't survive this");
3. acceptance - I accept that people are imperfect and do not have to behave differently than they do now, I accept that people are too complex and changeable to give them a global categorical assessment, and I accept living conditions as they are eat (instead of condemnation);

Thus, the main criteria for the psychological health of a person:

• Observance of own interests.
• social interest.
• Self management.
• High tolerance for frustration.
• Flexibility.
• Acceptance of uncertainty.
• Dedication to creative pursuits.
• Scientific thinking.
• Self acceptance.
• Riskiness.
• Delayed hedonism.
• Anti-utopianism.
• Responsibility for your emotional disorders.

Awards and prizes

• 1971 - Humanist of the Year award from the American Humanist Association
• 1985 - "outstanding professional contribution to applied research" award from the American Psychological Association.
• 1988 - "Professional Achievement Award" from the American Counseling Association.
• 1996 and 2005 Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies Awards.

Religious and philosophical views

Albert Ellis adhered to agnosticism in his religious beliefs, arguing that God "probably does not exist", but at the same time not denying the possibility of his existence. In the book "Sex Without Guilt", the scientist expressed the opinion that religious dogmas that impose restrictions on the expression of sexual experiences often adversely affect people's mental health.

The main philosophical views of Ellis fit into the framework of the concepts of humanism and stoicism. In his books and interviews, the scientist often quoted his favorite philosophers: Marcus Aurelius, Epictetus and others.

Literature in Russian

• Ellis A., Dryden W. The practice of rational-emotional behavioral therapy. - St. Petersburg: Speech, 2002. - 352 pages - ISBN 5-9268-0120-6
• Ellis A, McLaren K. Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy. - R&D: Phoenix, 2008. - 160 pages - ISBN 978-5-222-14121-2
• Ellis A. Humanistic psychotherapy: Rational-emotional approach. / Per. from English. - St. Petersburg: Owl; M.: EKSMO-Press, 2002. - 272 p. (Series "Steps of psychotherapy"). ISBN 5-04-010213-5
• Ellis A., Conway R. Who does a woman want? A practical guide to erotic seduction. - M.: Tsentrpoligraf, 2004. - 176 pages - ISBN 5-9524-1051-0
• Ellis A., Lange A. Don't put pressure on my psyche! - St. Petersburg: Peter Press, 1997. - 224 p. - (Series "Your own psychologist"). ISBN 5-88782-226-0
• Ellis A. Psychotraining according to the method of Albert Ellis. - St. Petersburg: Peter Kom, 1999. - 288 p. - (Series "Your own psychologist"). ISBN 5-314-00048-2
• Kassinov G. Rational-emotional-behavioral therapy as a method of treating emotional disorders // Psychotherapy: From theory to practice. Materials of the I Congress of the Russian Psychotherapeutic Association. - St. Petersburg: ed. Psychoneurological Institute. V. M. Bekhtereva, 1995. - S. 88-98.
• Where is the proof? Albert Ellis: a revolution in psychotherapy // "Common Sense" 2008, No. 1 (46)
• McMullin R. Workshop on Cognitive Therapy = The New Handbook on Cognitive Therapy Techniques. - St. Petersburg: Speech, 2001. - 560 p. - 5000 copies. - ISBN 5-9268-0036-6.