Personality Theories: Critical Perspectives

by Albert Ellis, Mike Abrams, Lidia Dengelegi Abrams

Personality Critical Perspectives is the groundbreaking, final text written by Albert Ellis, long considered the founder of cognitive behavioral therapies. The book provides students with supporting and contradictory evidence for the development of personality theories through time. Without condemning the founding theorists who came before him, Ellis builds on more than a century of psychological research to re-examine the theories of Freud, Jung, and Adler while taking an equally critical look at modern, research-based theories, including his own.

Features and
Helps students develop the scientific thinking required to evaluate current and forthcoming theories Encourages the reader to re-examine preexisting theories Provides the missing link between previously disparate disciplines of abnormal and normal personality theories, a feature especially important to students in graduate clinical programs Prepares the upper-level student for the growing trend in clinical programs to link human behavior, personality, and psychopathology to the neurological substrates Encourages more focus on relevant theories than on the biographies of those who developed them
Intended
This enlightening text will provide insight into personality theory for students in courses on personality. It should be required reading for upper-level undergraduate and graduate courses in psychology, counseling, and social work.

Genres: Psychology

720 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 2008

About the author

Albert Ellis was an American psychologist who in 1955 developed Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT). He held M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in clinical psychology from Columbia University and American Board of Professional Psychology (ABPP). He also founded and was the President of the New York City-based Albert Ellis Institute for decades.
He is generally considered to be one of the originators of the cognitive revolutionary paradigm shift in psychotherapy and the founder of cognitive-behavioral therapies. Based on a 1982 professional survey of USA and Canadian psychologists, he was considered as the second most influential psychotherapist in history (Carl Rogers ranked first in the survey; Sigmund Freud was ranked third).