As one of several major therapeutic theoretical orientations, cognitive therapy (sometimes called cognitive behavioral therapy) is an orientation that has attracted many consultants in the contemporary era. There are not only psychologists who have made important contributions to the success of this orientation, nor are they a group of people working together in concert, but many have developed their own systems relatively independently. As these systems mature, they are found to have the same or similar orientations. It is generally believed that the "interaction analysis" (TA) of Eric Bourne, Mechinbaum's " cognitive behavior correction ", Baker's "cognitive therapy" of , Ellis's "rational-emotion therapy" (RET), and Grasser's "reality therapy".
In these systems, Ellis' "rational-emotion therapy" enjoys a high reputation, and its "cognitive-behavior" orientation is also particularly prominent. RET happens to be the therapy that the author himself majored in, so I will introduce it in detail as a representative. Friends are welcome to send private messages or discuss in the comment section, and we will discuss, learn, grow and make progress together.
Rational-Emotional Therapy Overview
Rational-Emotional Therapy (Retional-Emotional Therapy) was brewed in the 1950s and gradually took shape after the 1960s. But according to Ellis himself, rationality—the core idea of emotional therapy—emphasizing the role of rational understanding of in human life is related to Ellis' early life and study. Albert Ellis was born in 1913. In childhood and adolescence, Ellis had some difficulties in both physical and mental development. He suffered from acute nephritis and was once very shy, afraid of speaking in front of others, especially against the opposite sex. During this period, he became very interested in philosophy and read the works of many ancient and modern philosophers and thinkers. Among them, Abhid, Aurelius, Emerson , Dewey, Floyd , Russell , Watson and others have particularly influenced him. Under the influence of these thinkers, Ellis began to realize that his emotional problems were created by himself for no reason, and thus decided to adopt a cognitive-behavioral approach to overcome his fear of speaking in front of others and social anxiety.
Ellis received his master's degree in clinical psychology from Columbia University in 1943 and a Ph.D. in philosophy in 1947. Although he was not unquestioned about the dominant psychoanalytic therapy at the time, he felt that it was a profound form of therapy, so he began personal analysis and training in 1947 under the guidance of an analyst at the Karen Honey Institute. Since then, he has begun to perform psychological treatment using classical psychological analysis methods. By around 1953, he had increasingly lost trust in the theory of this therapy and its efficacy. Although he had tried hard to modify it, he finally believed that it was futile.
In the 1950s, the treatment was called "rational therapy" (RT). Ellis tried to distinguish it from other therapies by doing so. But later it was discovered that people often confuse it with the 18th century rationalist philosophy, which easily makes people forget this therapy while also emphasizing the characteristics of action. In this way, Ellis and his first collaborator Robert A. Hapa decided to rename RT to "Reason-Emotional Therapy" (RET).
RET is characterized by both cognition and action, and rationality and experience. But in the 1960s, it emphasized the role of rationality. Ellis firmly believes that if a person has a reasonable philosophy of life, he will be almost impossible to have emotional trouble. Ellis believes that this belief has absorbed the thoughts of many philosophers, thinkers and some important cognitive therapists in history and present. This also includes the thoughts of ancient Chinese thinkers Confucius and Taoist . Most ancient Chinese thinkers believed that emotions come from thoughts, and to change emotions, one must change one's thoughts.Later, Western philosophers such as Spinoza and Russell introduced these views into the modern Western world .
RET used some practice methods of other therapies in the early 1960s, such as Pierce's "Encounter Method", and later developed some of its own empirical exercises, which also strengthened its behavioral orientation. With the growth of RET, more and more clinical psychologists have joined the RET camp after the 1970s. The principle of RET is applied to the treatment of a variety of emotional disorders, and many works have emerged that elaborate on RET. In addition to academic works, RET has also published a large number of self-help rational-emotion therapy programs, as well as general popular readings. For example, "The Guide to Rational Life", "The Guide to Successful Marriage", "Abuse of Procrastination", "Personal Happiness Guide", etc.
By the 1980s, RET had become an internationally renowned psychotherapy system. It has two research institutions, one is the "Reasonable Living Limited Institute", which is a non-profit educational and scientific research organization founded in 1959; the other is the "Reasonable-Emotional Therapy Research Institute", which was founded in 1968 and is a training institution. Both institutions are based in New York City. In addition to publishing monographs, books and popular readings, a journal called "Rational Life" is also published. In terms of education and training, adult education courses, graduate training, and special professional training courses have been offered.
Ellis himself serves as the director of the Institute for Rational Emotion Therapy in New York. Ellis began his career in the early 1940s. At that time, he was engaged in research and related work on sexual issues and gained a certain reputation. Later, he decided to conduct formal clinical work. He believed at the time that the most effective psychotherapy was psychoanalysis . However, he later realized that dissonant relationships are caused by dissonant people. If a person wants to know how to get along with others, he must first know how to coordinate his life.
has a major influence on Ellis. Ancient Greek and Roman Stoic school. They emphasize that philosophy causes precede psychological disorders. In essence, what the Stoics wanted to show is that it is not the things themselves that cause people to be dissonant, but their views on things. This has become the theoretical basis of rational-emotion therapy. Similarly, this view is deeply rooted in various cognitive-behavioral therapies today.
Main Philosophical influence
In addition to Stoicism, there are several other philosophies that have also had an important impact on rational-emotion therapy.
1, Kant , Spinoza and Schopenhauer .
2. Philosophers of science Pope, Reichnbach and Russell also had an important influence on Ellis. Ellis believes that the therapeutic practice of rational-emotion therapy is consistent with the logical empirical principles in scientific methods in many aspects. He also emphasizes the flexibility of scientific methods and the characteristics of anti-doctrinism.
3. Christian philosophy is also one of the important sources of influence. The theory of rational-emotion therapy on the value of human beings is consistent with Christianity's view of condemning sin, but understanding the sinners.
4. Rational-emotion therapy stands on the standpoint of self-acceptance and opposes various forms of human hierarchy, so it is connected with moral humanism. At the same time, rational-emotion therapy believes that humans are the center of the universe and they have the power to choose, so it is influenced by Heidegel and Tilic's existential philosophy .
5. In the 1960s, Ellis was also influenced by ordinary semantics . These semanticists emphasized the powerful influence of language on thoughts, and the emotional process relies on the ideological basis constructed by humans in language.
Main Psychological influence
1. Ellis once received analysis training at Honey College. During this period, he accepted several important concepts of Honey, especially the "authoritarian necessity" had an early impact on him, making him notice that absolute Dogistic understanding will lead to psychological disorders.
2 and Adler also had important impacts on the development of rational-emotion therapy.
3. Rational-emotion therapy was also influenced by pioneers of early behaviorism and borrowed from some treatment methods of behaviorism.
Tomorrow we will talk about the characteristics of RET
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