Posted by Helen on: 08.16.2007 /
Albert Ellis, an influential psychotherapist, died recently. Quoting from a New York Times article about him
Dr. Ellis (he had a doctorate but not a medical degree) called his approach rational emotive behavior therapy, or R.E.B.T. Developed in the 1950s, it challenged the deliberate, slow-moving methodology of Sigmund Freud, the prevailing psychotherapeutic treatment at the time.
Where the Freudians maintained that a painstaking exploration of childhood experience was critical to understanding neurosis and curing it, Dr. Ellis believed in short-term therapy that called on patients to focus on what was happening in their lives at the moment and to take immediate action to change their behavior. “Neurosis,” he said, was “just a high-class word for whining.”
“The trouble with most therapy is that it helps you to feel better,” he said in a 2004 article in The New York Times. “But you don’t get better. You have to back it up with action, action, action.”
Freudian therapy taught that people were at the mercy of their unconscious minds and only years of therapy could sort that out. In my opinion Ellis did a wonderful thing by proposing an approach that gave control back to people. You can read about Ellis’ therapy here, in his own words: REBT Explained by Albert Ellis, PhD
I think an online friend first told me about Albert Ellis. The teaching of Ellis and others who developed similar methods was very empowering for me. Until I read it I thought the only response to “this is unbearably hard” was “pray; turn to God”. From Ellis et al I learned that I could choose to have different thoughts about difficult situations. Ellis was an atheist, but I don’t see why Christians couldn’t use his teaching - as well as prayer - to help deal with life.
Comment by: Mike O
1I haven’t read the whole article yet, but it sounds really good to me! Sure, there are specifics I may not agree with, but the general idea of “you can always choose how you react” I really like.
I don’t think Chrsitians would take issue with the general approach, although we may need to modify it a bit to include (rather than exclude) the existance of a higher power.
Comment by: Steve S.
2Just as a humorous aside …my Father, who just recently started a second career in psychology, said of his graduate studies, “All of this (psychology) is really just a replacement of the grandmother in a society that has become fragmented.”
I am flying blind here because I don’t know anything about Mr. Ellis’ work, but my interaction with my father through the course of his studies has led me to believe that there is a lot more to be done than a little modification if an integration of contemporary psychology and Christian thought is to occur.
(PLEASE understand that I am not talking about ‘Christian therapy,’ I have heard too many horror stories)
There are some fundamental conflicts when it comes to an understanding of the basic nature of a human being, the nature of human change, and the nature of good and evil.
Comment by: Helen
3Thanks Mike. I think the principles could easily be applied within a Christian framework, since the point is to move from beliefs which are unrealistic/irrational according to your overall belief system to ones which are more realistic/rational.
Ellis sought to move people away from all-or-nothing positions such as “this MUST happen for me to be happy”, to “I would really like this to happen but I will survive if it doesn’t”.
In a Christian framework an example of that might be moving away from “God MUST answer my prayer for me to be happy” to “I would really like God to answer my prayer but I will survive if he doesn’t”.
I think this sort of directed approach could potentially be very helpful to Christians.
Comment by: Mike O
4Maybe “modify” was a bad choice of words. How about “ignore” the parts disregarding God? As Christians, God is central. Couldn’t we keep the elements we like and throw out the elements we don’t? His good ideas would still be good ideas, right?
Comment by: Staci
5Steve S., your grandmother comment reminded me of something my Grandma asked me a few years back. She said, “Do you know why everyone is stressed? People keep telling me they’re stressed, but I can’t figure out why. I’ve never been stressed in my life.” This from a woman who’s husband was sent to Japan in WW II. It isn’t that she wasn’t dealing with reality, she just felt like she had the tools to deal with it and didn’t need to whine and dwell.
Comment by: Elaine
6Mike O - Actually, someone has taken Ellis’s emotive theraphy and integrated it into a Christian course.
Dr. Gary Sweeten in Cincinnati created a course called “Rational Christian Thinking”. This course started at College Hiil Presbyterian in Cincy about 30 years ago. It is an excellent class and helped me to deal with a lot of garbage in my thinking. I’ve even facilitated the class at my church.
They now call it Renewing Your Mind. It is sold through Equipping Ministries International.
Comment by: Rachel
7A friend of mine has been going to a Christian psychologist for cognitive behavior therapy. She said that it is helping her to overcome anxiety and negative self-talk.
Comment by: Helen
8Steve wrote:
Steve I have often heard Christians say things like that. The comments generally are not based on approaches like Ellis’ approach - you can tell because Ellis does not focus on such things as the basic nature of humans. Ellis helps people renounce false beliefs and replace them with true ones.
Presumablye you don’t think renouncing false beliefs and replacing them with true ones is in conflict with Christianity?
Mike wrote:
Mike, I’ve always thought Ellis’ theory could easily be practised within a Christian framework. I’m not surprised to hear Elaine say it has been for decades.
Rachel, cognitive behavior therapy is very closely linked to REBT. They are both based on replacing false beliefs with true ones. (I forgot what the behavior part means) I’m glad to hear it’s helping your friend.
Comment by: Steve S.
9…good point Helen, sometimes I don’t ;-)
Comment by: Helen
10Fair enough, Steve :)
Comment by: Helen
11Oh, I just got it Steve - nor do I, sometimes - we’re in the same boat there :)
At first I thought you meant, sometimes you don’t think [rest of sentence]. I guess I am slow on the uptake today!
Comment by: Steve S.
12At least for you it only happened today, I am one of those unfortunates who is constantly afflicted with this malady…
I was refering to my speaking about the subject (Psychology/Mr Ellis) without knowing anything about him.
Of course, if you can’t have uninformed opinions then what good is the internet anyways…
Comment by: Helen
13Steve S wrote:
Exactly :)