The Practice of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy

by Albert Ellis, Windy Dryden

Reissued with a new foreword by Raymond DiGiuseppe, PhD, ScD, St. John's University

"New trainees often get the theory of psychopathology; they struggle to get the case conceptualization and the strategic plan. Then they ask themselves. "What do I do now?" Going from the abstractions to the actions is not always clear.

The Practice of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy represents a compilation of years of theoretical and clinical insights distilled into a specific theory of disturbance and therapy and deductions for specific clinical strategies and techniques....The structure of this books focuses on an explication of the theory, a chapter on basic practice, and a chapter on an in depth case study. A detailed chapter follows on the practice of individual psychotherapy. Although the book is not broken into sections, the next four chapters represent a real treasure. The authors focus on using REBT in couples, family, group, and marathons sessions. Doing REBT with one person is difficult to learn. Once the clinician adds more people to the room with different and sometimes competing agendas things get more complicated. These chapters will not only help the novice clinician but also the experienced REBT therapists work better in these types of sessions.

So, consider yourself lucky for having picked up this book. Reading it will help many people get better." - From the Foreword by Raymond DiGiuseppe, PhD, ScD, Director of Professional Education, Albert Ellis Institute; Professor and Chair, Department of Psychology, St. John's University

This edition, involving a unique collaboration between Albert Ellis and the world's greatest Ellis scholar, Windy Dryden, modernizes Ellis's pioneering theories. The book begins with an explanation of rational emotive behavior therapy as a general treatment model and then addresses different treatment modalities, including individual, couple, family, and sex therapy. The authors have added material new since the book's original edition on teaching the principles of unconditional self-acceptance in a structured group setting. With extensive use of actual case examples to illustrate each of the different settings, and a new brand new foreword by Raymond DiGiuseppe that sets the book into its 21st-century context.

Genres: Psychology, Self Help

448 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1987

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).

Reviews

[Guada]

I'm not going to rate this because of obvious reasons but I will say it's a really great introduction to REBT and I would highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in learning about this form of therapy

*I skipped the chapters about REBT intensive and marathons, structured group work and the approach to sex therapy because I am currently not interested in those aspects

[Kumar123456 · Rating 1 out of 5]

After reading and applying Three minute therapy by Student of Albert Ellis one star is my rating,i don't think REBT works .

[Kalem Wright · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this book, Ellis and Dryden lead readers and practitioners through the theory and application of REBT, a cognitive-behavioral strategy that emphasizes changing destructive irrational beliefs. Ellis and Dryden largely achieve their goal of promoting their intervention through its simplicity, elegance, and through practical and easily learned skills. As a book, it’s hard to call this work a success. It seems like a “frankenbook” cobbled together from past book chapters and articles that is lazy at worst and a missed opportunity to clarify and educate at best. As a result, the basic ideas are repeated almost ad nauseam. However, this is a valuable read for the first two chapters alone to learn the core concepts.

[Marian · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a second read of this book. I have (a later edition, Prometheus, 2004) of this book and read it after a friend in NYC described working with Albert Ellis. Ellis is interesting about how to look at the differences between the things we'd like to have, be, do and what we have, are, and do. He learned early about managing expectations. My friend learned how to manage difficult working relationships. Warning! There are some surprising sections of the book relating to some of Ellis's somewhat alternative passions but I decided to read the book with an open mind. What he say deserves attention.

[Elis Niyazieva · Rating 5 out of 5]

easy to read and understand, explaining the reasons of common behavioral beliefs, expectations and feelings, actions according to expectations; proving that we all have irrational emotional battles and that emotions, thoughts and actions are interconnected.