Customer Reviews

Reason and Emotion in Psychotherapy : A Comprehensive Method of Treating Human Disturbances : Revised and Updated

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The author has written the most lucid and powerful treatise dealing with the field of cognitive-behavior therapy in his work, "Reason and Emotion in Psychotherapy". He continues to display his uncanny knack for communicating profound theories in plain, simple English that anyone can understand. This is a "must" read for professionals and laypeople alike who have an interest in knowing the most recent ideas and practices of the grandfather of cognitive-behavior therapy, Albert Ellis.

This is the seminal book about the development and application of rational emotive therapy. At some point, it was ranked one the the ten most influential books. Ellis' assesses the deficencies in traditional psychotherapy he was trained to practice and his drive to create rational emotive therapy in an insightful and honest evaulation. I do not know if many would be as honest or as creative as he. Each chapter adds significant value towards building the principles of RET. This is a book that changed the way I think about emotion and cognition. Many similar books are watered down, popular versions. It's insightful and revealing to go to the source.

Ellis is extraordinarily repetitive. If you read one chapter it is as good as having read the entire book; actually, it is as good as having read all of his books. He has innovated a useful and worthwhile new approach to psychotherapy, but he overrates it tremendously. His writing is sometimes a narrow dogmatism and he is (albeit rarely) rather bigoted, against certain groups and also against those who disagree with him.