Mutiny On 65th Street
A lot of people consider psychiatry and psychology a form of witch doctor'y, and don't understand that it can actually help them. For years, because of that, I've been sending people to Albert Ellis' $5 Friday night sessions (at his nonprofit Institute on 65th Street in Manhattan) where he does therapy on a volunteer in front of an audience. This allowed these people to see that there was therapy out there that wasn't mumbo jumbo, and that they simply had to learn to think rationally and apply reason to their emotional problems to start living smarter and more contentedly. For some people, this takes guidance by an Ellis-trained therapist, but for others, reading Ellis' books, like A Guide To Rational Living, and applying his methods, is enough.

In my opinion, the form of psychology originated by Albert Ellis and Aaron Beck, generally known as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, but in Ellis' case, specifically known as Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy, is the fastest, smartest, most efficient type of therapy out there: Change the way you think, and you'll change the way you feel. You're disturbed because you're thinking irrationally (inspired by Epictetus' [paraphrased] "It is not events that disturb people, but the way they think of them."

This is why I'm particularly disturbed about the efforts by the board of Ellis' nonprofit institute, REBT.org, to reward him for what he built by unceremoniously throwing him out of his own Institute at age 92 -- while he's still mentally at the top of his game, despite health problems related to his diabetes. Benedict Carey and Dan Hurley write in The New York Times:

In a drama worthy of a field that thrives on conflict, a bitter feud has erupted between Albert Ellis, one of the most provocative and influential figures in modern psychology, and the Upper East Side psychotherapy institute he founded almost a half-century ago.

Dr. Ellis, 92, has filed a lawsuit against the Albert Ellis Institute, after the institute kicked him off its board of directors and canceled his popular Friday evening seminars.

Dr. Ellis and his defenders claim that the nonprofit institute has fallen into the hands of psychologists who are moving it away from the revolutionary therapy techniques pioneered by Dr. Ellis in the 1960's and 1970's.

The lawsuit, reported on Sunday by The New York Post, charges that the board acted improperly in removing Dr. Ellis and seeks his reinstatement, as well as unspecified damages. But Daniel Kurtz, a lawyer for the institute, said that the board acted out of economic necessity: payouts to Dr. Ellis for medical and other expenses were jeopardizing the institute's tax-exempt status and its viability, he said.

Dr. Ellis, who lives above the institute on East 65th Street, has been in declining health since an infection that nearly killed him several years ago and has daily nursing care.

In the last year, the dispute has turned personal. Some board members have said they were uncomfortable with Dr. Ellis's confrontational style and eccentricities, and saw him as a liability, said Andy Hopson, a volunteer consultant hired by the institute at Dr. Ellis's urging.

And some of Dr. Ellis's supporters have hinted that the institute's current managers are little more than overpaid self-promoters, intent on turning the institute into an outlet for pop psychology in the style of Dr. Phil, according to Mike Abrams, a psychologist in private practice in New Jersey who has worked with Dr. Ellis.

The board also fired Dr. Ellis's assistant, whom he has now married, a fact that he has interpreted as additional evidence of personal animosity on the part of board members.

In an interview from his bedside yesterday, Dr. Ellis said that neither money nor his health was the most important issue in the dispute.

It is natural for any psychological institute to change and adapt with the times, he said, "but it's unusual for them to change and go completely against the main principles" of its founder "and still call it the Albert Ellis Institute, and say they're doing the therapy, which they are not."

...By early 2004, with Dr. Ellis in declining health, the board began to negotiate with him about his future role at the institute, Mr. Kurtz said. The two sides could not come to agreement about Dr. Ellis's payment or title, Mr. Kurtz said, and in July, institute officials canceled the Friday evening sessions that had been a staple there for 30 years.

Dr. Ellis's lawyer, Michael de Leeuw, said: "Either these people really believe he is losing it, which he is not - in which case their lack of sympathy and fairness is appalling - or it's a palace coup.

"They have created a lot of animus. It's not what anyone would want to do to a guy who's 92 and the founder of a major school of psychology, especially one from whom they have all been directly enriched."

Mr. Kurtz said that the board's action in no way challenged the importance of Dr. Ellis's contributions but that those contributions were ultimately irrelevant to the ouster.

"We had someone who was working part time by any standard and who received financial benefits in the range of $500,000 to $600,000; it was just an outrageous situation," he said, referring mostly to medical benefits.

Mr. Kurtz, an expert in the laws governing nonprofits, said that in the nonprofit world, "there's something called founder's syndrome, and this is an extreme case of that: he sees this as something he can use as he wishes, and he can't."

Michael Broder, the director of the Institute, said yesterday that the action by the board was not personal and was within the law. Dr. Ellis's lawyers responded that Dr. Broder himself earned more than $200,000 last year and that Dr. Ellis's expenses were legitimate, especially given his modest salary - less than $50,000 a year - and his years of devotion to the institute.

Mr. Hopson said that the personal friction between Dr. Ellis and top managers was evident.

"It became apparent to me very quickly in my interviewing process that the relationship between Dr. Broder and Dr. Ellis was tenuous at best," he said. "Dr. Ellis didn't trust Dr. Broder and was frustrated that even though he was president of the board, Dr. Broder often ignored his directives."

Mr. Hopson said that Dr. Ellis also believed that Dr. Broder was manipulating the board.

"He frequently lamented to me that he didn't trust Dr. Broder," Mr. Hopson said.

In his new identity as a therapist unaffiliated with the Albert Ellis Institute, Dr. Ellis said he has been seeing a few clients. He said he does not hate those who removed him from the institute, nor is he angry about it.

"I think it's unfair, but they have the right as fallible, screwed-up humans to be unfair, that's the human condition," he said.

From a petition to reinstate Ellis:

Albert Ellis founded the Institute, founded REBT, served the Institute his entire career, took only a small salary and put the rest of his earnings back into the Institute, spoke all over the world to teach about REBT, lived at the Institute, guarded the Institute, and needs to be reinstated and keep the Institute on track in its course, as he the founder established it to be. He deserves respect from the Board and does not deserve the heartache of a lawsuit to protect his lifelong investment in the Institute. I hope the Institute will live on in his name maintaining the methods and standards of treatment he created. He gave great talks at his 90th birthday party and at a subsequent Friday night workshop I attended. He is capable of continuing his life's work, and if he needs special accommodations for his age and state of health, then the Institute needs to provide them, in accordance with the Americans With Disabilities Act and the EEOC, which prohibits discrimination based on age.

I, personally, have sent hundreds of my readers to the Institute and REBT.org, and recommended that my readers in need of therapy see REBT fellows from the Institute's list. I don't know that I can do that anymore if I can't be sure they'll be following Ellis' methods, which are both wise and simple, and proof that one need not go through years of therapy to fix dumb, counterproductive ways of behaving.

Here is an excerpt from a message from two dissenting board members:

2. Although we commend our fellow Board members for their efforts to prevent the loss of the Institute’s tax exempt status, we maintain that removing Dr. Ellis from all positions of responsibility, including the Board, was not the correct or the respectful way to address these matters. 3. We contend that the Board was NOT “compelled” to act with the haste and the secrecy that characterized Dr. Ellis’ removal on September 18th 2005 at the last meeting of the Board.

-- Where is the evidence for the necessity and immediacy of this action?

--Where is the unambiguous proof that the payments made for Dr. Ellis’ medical care are “excess benefits”?

Dr. Ellis has received minimal compensation for the last 50 years. All his income went to support the Institute and purchase its building whose value is in the millions and worth many times over the original purchase price. Furthermore, because of Dr. Ellis’ conservative fiscal policies, the Institute is financially sound

and debt free with a bank account in excess of 5 million dollars.

The only alleged “excess benefits” paid to Dr Ellis were for the purpose of medical bills incurred in the last 2 years since his illness. It was in fact the Board itself that established a trust for the purpose of covering Dr. Ellis’ medical expenses.

This is appalling and a travesty, and beyond stupid. I plan to call Michael Broder today to let him know.

Posted by aalkon at October 19, 2005 4:14 PM

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