Cognitive aspects of human transformation in Christian perspective: Critique of Albert Elis's rational-emotive therapy

Abstract

In a recent survey of clinical and counseling psychologists, R. Warren & G.D. Zgourides, have concluded that the cognitively-oriented therapy and/or rational-emotive therapy (RET) "represent one of the strongest, if not the strongest theoretical emphases today". They pointed out that this system of therapy was the predominant orientation and one of the most influential. Indeed, the survey is seen to reinforce the notion that RET approaches have gained prominence as a potential method of therapy in helping people through the counseling process. Albert Ellis, the founding father of RET, pioneered the advancement of cognitively-oriented therapy in the 1950s, and it became the forerunner in the emergence of the modern cognitive-behavior therapy. RET, subsequently hot only evolved as the first of modern cognitive interventions to gain widespread clinical acceptance, but also became the pioneer of the "development of strategies designed to change existing beliefs". Ellis traced the origin of the discovery about his theory back to the writings of the Stoic philosopher, Epictetus (ca. AD 55-ca.135) who once maintained that "people are disturbed not by things, but by the view which they take of them". This way of looking at events captures a major theme in RET that "changing a person's belief and transforming the human mind to become more rational", will eliminate emotional and psychological disturbances. In this theoretical framework, the role of therapists is to teach their clients to examine the rationality of their beliefs, and to help them "identify and actively dispute their irrational beliefs".