Dr. Albert Ellis, 93, Creator of Psychology's Cognitive Revolution, Dies
July 24, 2007

Dr. Albert Ellis, the controversial psychologist who revolutionized the field of psychology when he created Rational Emotive Therapy in 1955, died at home on July 24, 2007. His wife, Debbie Joffe was with him. He was 93. He had been seriously ill for more than a year.

Dr. Ellis was born in Pittsburgh on September 27, 1913, and was raised in New York City. He received his M.A. (1943) and Ph.D. (1947) degrees in clinical psychology from Columbia University. He practiced psychotherapy, marriage and family counseling and sex therapy for over sixty years. He was the founder of Rational Emotive Therapy, the first of the now-popular cognitive therapies. In later years, he called his creation Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy, REBT.

Recognizing the slowness and frequent ineffectiveness of Freudian psychoanalysis, Albert Ellis broke away from it in January 1953, calling himself a rational therapist. He presented REBT to the psychological community in 1955, starting a revolutionary paradigm shift in the way psychology thought about human problems and changing the way psychotherapy is practiced around the world.

REBT is a comprehensive approach to psychological issues and problems that deals with the emotional and behavioral aspects of human disturbance, and places emphasis on how people think. REBT reminds people that they control their own emotional destiny according to whether they think in healthy, rational ways or unhealthy, irrational ways. It teaches people how to forcefully analyze and change their self-defeating thoughts and behaviors. A major aspect of REBT is unconditional acceptance of self, others and life.

His influence extended into areas other than psychology, including education, politics, business and philosophy. He wrote extensively on the problems the world currently faces, such as terrorism and nuclear weapons.

Dr. Ellis received the highest awards from professional societies, including recently the New York State Psychological Association's Lifetime Distinguished Service Award. In a 1982 survey, American and Canadian psychologists rated Albert Ellis as having more influence on psychology than Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung or B.F. Skinner. Psychology Today called him The Prince of Reason. He was also called the greatest humanitarian since Gandhi.

Until he fell ill at the age of 92 in May 2006, Dr. Ellis typically worked at least 16 hours a day, writing books in longhand on legal tablets, visiting with clients and teaching. Even while seriously ill, he continued to see students at the rehabilitation center where he was recuperating. He even taught from his hospital bed, giving his last two hour workshop to a group of students from Belgium who visited his hospital room on March 29. In addition to pneumonia, he had had a heart attack that morning, but he refused to cancel the meeting.

In his later years, Dr. Ellis also worked despite profound hearing loss. He was assisted in his work by his wife, Australian psychologist Debbie Joffe. She facilitated his workshops, contributing pertinent points in response to audience questions. Their outstanding rapport helped showcase Dr. Ellis' famous and at-times irreverent humor, as together they taught the principles of REBT to large and small groups.
Humor was an important part of his philosophy and he applied it to his own life challenges, using himself as an example to teach people how to deal with serious adversities. He was also a writer of his unique rational humorous songs. He had said that if he were not a psychologist he would have enjoyed being a composer.
Dr. Ellis was also as one of the founders of the American sexual revolution. His ground-breaking 1958 book, "Sex Without Guilt," created a national discussion leading to a change in the way people think about sexual experience. He wrote more than 75 books, 200 audiotapes and 1,200 articles. His autobiography will be published posthumously by Prometheus Press. Other books, including one on REBT and Buddhism, also await publication.

He held many important positions in the field of psychology, including chief psychologist of the state of New Jersey and adjunct professor at Rutgers and other universities. He had been the president of the Division of Consulting Psychology of the American Psychological Association and president of the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality and several other professional boards.

In 1971, the American Humanist Association named Albert Ellis the Humanist of the Year.

In relation to religion and God, Albert Ellis called himself a "probabilistic atheist", meaning that although we can have no certainty, we have an exceptionally high degree of probability that God doesn't exist. He thought that the probability of existence of God was so small that it did not deserve his attention. However, Ellis made it clear that REBT is independent of his probabilistic atheism.

His wife, Debbie Joffe-Ellis said many people considered him spiritual in a secular way for his tireless contributions to others. In later years, he wrote and spoke about similarities between REBT and aspects of Buddhism, with both philosophies teaching unconditional acceptance of life.

On his 90th birthday, Dr. Ellis listened to congratulatory messages from New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Sens. Chuck Schumer and Hillary Clinton, former President Bill Clinton and President George W. Bush. In honor of the occasion, he was given a white silk scarf that had been blessed by the Dalai Lama.

In 1959, Albert Ellis established the Institute for Rational Living, a non-profit organization with the mission to advance and popularize REBT and to provide low-cost counseling to the public. In 1964, he used his personal funds to purchase a six-story mansion on 65th Street in Manhattan. This building housed what came to be called the Albert Ellis Institute.

He lived frugally in an apartment on the top floor, supporting the institute's mission by donating all his personal income to the institute's operation. For almost 50 years, the world's most famous living psychologist took only a $12,000 a year salary for himself, plus living accommodations and a promise of lifetime medical care. He could have been a millionaire many times over had he kept the income from his best-selling books and thousands of therapy sessions.

In 2004, after Dr. Ellis experienced a life-threatening medical crisis, the board of trustees of the Albert Ellis Institute said his medical expenses had become too great and they stopped paying for the at-home nursing care that allowed him to continue working full time. Dr. Ellis had always saved and wisely invested a portion of his small earnings. This cushion of funds was used to pay for his medical care.

In July 2005, the board of trustees barred him from using institute facilities for his popular Friday Night Workshops for the public, which had been a Manhattan fixture for more than four decades. Ellis responded by relocating his workshops and conducting them in exile in a rented building, aided by his wife Debbie Joffe. In front of standing-room-only crowds, they gave live demonstrations of REBT with audience volunteers.

The direction the Albert Ellis Institute will take in the future remains unresolved. Despite Dr. Ellis' strong preference that the institute promotes Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy as its sole mission, REBT is now only one of several approaches offered by the organization that bears his name.

In October 2005, Dr. Ellis sued his own institute after its trustees voted by a narrow margin to remove him from the board and to suspend him from all professional duties.

In a stunning decision, the Supreme Court for New York County returned Dr. Ellis to the Board of Trustees in January 2006, with the judge calling the actions taken against Dr. Ellis by the other trustees "disingenuous" and "offensive and contrary to our fundamental process of democratic and legal procedure, fair play and the spirit of the law."

Despite the judge's ruling, the board of trustees prevented Dr. Ellis from any meaningful participation in running the Albert Ellis Institute and his professional duties were not restored.

Fans and professional colleagues used the Internet to create a spontaneous international network of support for Dr. Ellis and REBT. Fansites, discussion forums and Web sites were created in his honor. The trustees of the Albert Ellis Institute then claimed trademark rights to the "Albert Ellis" name, threatening to sue his advocates and supporters for trademark infringement.

Dr. Ellis rejected the Institute's trademark use of his name, calling the current Institute "fake" and likening its Trustees to "pirates" who plundered his life's work.
Also left unresolved at the time of Dr. Ellis' death is a breach- of-contract lawsuit seeking repayment of Dr. Ellis' medical expenses, ownership of his extensive archives and return of the $20 million Albert Ellis Institute mansion in Manhattan through imposition of a constructive trust.

Dr. Ellis believed the current institute that bears his name no longer represented his life work and mission. Friends and supporters intend to keep REBT alive and vital, as he created it. He suggested they do this by using his philosophy in their own lives to promote personal peace and happiness and by teaching REBT to other people. He remained dedicated to the principles of liberty, justice and freedom.

Dr. Ellis is survived by his wife, Debbie Joffe. He embarked on his third marriage at age 90, surprising many people. He said that after several years of friendship, he wanted to marry Debbie because she was the kindest and most giving woman he had ever met, and also the most dedicated to practicing the principles of REBT. He told his supporters that although he'd had several great love affairs in his long life, he loved Debbie Joffe more than any other woman he had ever lived with or loved before.

Debbie personally cared for her husband continuously during the time of his serious illness, seldom leaving his bedside and making it possible for him to continue teaching, promoting REBT and engaging in work he loved, even when he was bedridden and suffering discomfort.

Dr. Ellis is also survived by several nephews.

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About Dr. Albert Ellis, Ph. D.

Dr. Albert Ellis was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on September 27, 1913, and was raised in New York City. He received MA (1943) and PhD (1947) degrees in Clinical Psychology from Columbia University.

Disappointed with the slowness and frequent ineffectiveness of Freudian psychoanalysis, Albert Ellis finally broke away from it in January 1953 and started calling himself Rational Therapist. He created Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) in January 1955. This started a revolutionary paradigm shift in Psychology; and REBT became the basis of all Cognitive Therapies, which were subsequently developed after about a decade and more. Albert Ellis is recognized as the Grandfather of Cognitive Behavioral Therapies. Psychology Today has called him "The Prince of Reason" in 2000.

US and Canadian psychologists, in a 1982 professional survey, rated Albert Ellis' influence on psychology to be greater that those of Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, and B. F. Skinner. More psychotherapists today practice his form of therapy than any other.

Albert Ellis has held many positions including those of the Chief Psychologist of the state of New Jersey and professorship at many universities. He has been the president of the Division of Consulting Psychology of the American Psychological Association and president of the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality, besides holding several positions in professional bodies.

Albert Ellis has received various honors and awards from professional associations such as American Psychological Association, Association for the Advancement of Behavior Therapy, and American Psychopathological Association. Recently, he was awarded Lifetime Distinguished Service Award by New York State Psychological Association. Albert Ellis has been on the editorial boards of many journals.

In 1971 the American Humanist Association named Albert Ellis as the Humanist of the Year.

Albert Ellis' professional output has been phenomenal; he has authored over 75 books and 1200 articles. His influence has extended into areas other than Psychology, which include education, education of children, social harmony, politics, business, and enhancing human happiness. He has written extensively on the serious problems that the world is currently facing, such as terrorism, and nuclear weapons. Ellis normally works 16 hours per day.

In relation to religion and God, Albert Ellis calls himself a probabilistic atheist, meaning thereby that it is impossible to be 100% certain that there is no God, but he thinks that the probability of existence of God is so small that it is undeserving of his attention. However, Ellis makes it clear that REBT is independent of his probabilistic atheism.

Albert Ellis established Albert Ellis Institute, a non-profit organization, in 1959 with a mission to advance and popularize REBT and to provide low-cost counseling. He purchased a six-story townhouse in Manhattan in 1964 from his own money and since then ran the Institute from this building. He donated to the Institute all his income from counseling, teaching, and earnings from his books, many of them bestsellers, for close to 50 years, himself taking only a small salary.

Ellis could have been a millionaire many times over, if only he had kept his income with himself. In 2005, when Albert Ellis was seriously ill and had survived a major medical emergency, he was removed from the Board of his own Institute. The board also stopped him from conducting his famous Friday Night Workshops for general public in the Institute building. Ellis, against all odds, conducted the Friday Night Workshops-in-exile, in a rented building.

Albert Ellis has faced several medical adversities in his life, including kidney disease (nephritis) at age 5, for which he was hospitalized 9 times in 4 years. Subsequently, he suffered from tonsillitis, for which he was operated, severe streptococcal infection, and pneumonia. He also suffered from insomnia in childhood. Since about 5 years of age till his sixties, he suffered from initially undiagnosed recurrent piercing headaches, which were later relieved by tight blood sugar control. Albert Ellis has had easily tired eyes and poor eyesight since the age of 20, which he manages by frequently closing his eyes. When 28, he was operated for sinusitis. He developed insulin-dependent diabetes when he was 40, which complicates all his other medical conditions. He has conducted a life-long battle with diabetes and its consequences, including many life-threatening hypoglycemic insulin shocks. He suffered serious intestinal problems in 2003, which led to his hospitalization and removal of his large intestine. He has severe hearing problem and is presently suffering from major respiratory and gastrointestinal diseases. While hospitalized for these conditions, Ellis developed an unusual drug reaction and dehydration, from which he has recovered. He has been to Intensive Care Units of the hospitals many times in his life, and has recently clearly expressed his intention to overcome the present medical adversities.

Albert Ellis practices what he preaches. The apparently unstoppable Ellis was working on three books, his autobiography, a book on Love, and a textbook on Personality Theories, just before he again seriously fell ill this year. Recently, he sent a message to his supporters from his hospital bed, which was, "Work harder."

Albert Ellis is married to his very loving and devoted wife Dr. Debbie Joffe, who is his constant companion in these difficult times.