Albert Ellis and Aaron Beck

Paper Summary:

This paper examines two modern day theorists that have had a major impact on psychology--Albert Ellis and Aaron Beck. Ellis is known as the founder of rational-emotive therapy and Beck is known as the founder of cognitive therapy. The paper evaluates how both Ellis and Beck are inspirational for their approaches to therapy, for the therapies they pioneered and for the impact these therapies have had. It considers both the approaches and the therapies of Ellis and Beck in turn.

From the Paper:

"Ellis's theory is based on the belief that psychological problems are caused by irrational beliefs that people have gained by some experience in the past. These irrational beliefs cause people to overreact to situations. In one work describing how the theory is applied, Ellis offers the example of a woman who is rejected by her partner. According to Ellis, if the woman has emotional difficulties she responds to this rejection in an excessive way. Instead of thinking that it is undesirable to be rejected she believes she is a worthless person because she is rejected and believes that she will never be accepted by anyone (Ellis, 1979). To deal with these emotional problems, Ellis proposed rational-emotive therapy. This therapy is based on the idea that the therapist's role is to teach the individual to think logically. Unlike many therapists, Ellis did not believe that the patient should guide their own thinking."

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• Case Study # 92464 : "Treating Generalized Anxiety"

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