What a difference a century makes. The field of mental health has changed radically and PSYCHOLOGY TODAY has been right there--through the sexual and technological revolutions, the explosion of clinical psychology and the rise of brain science and pharmacology. Dr. Albert Ellis, one of the century's most influential psychotherapists, highlights the leaps and bounds psychology has made throughout the decades, setting the stage for excerpts from some of the best articles we have had to offer.
THERAPY GROWS UP
One usually had to be semi-psychotic and rich to get psychotherapy in the 19th century. People would pay thousands of dollars for four to five weekly sessions in which therapists would thoroughly explore their early childhood experiences and barely acknowledge present day problems. This could go on for two to five years with little result. But, alas, times have changed.
Let me list a few of psychotherapy's many 20th century advances:
o It has now--finally!--reached the masses, with millions of people engaging in regular individual and group therapy, taking workshops, seminars and intensive weekends led by therapists. Self-help books, cassettes and computer-assisted materials have improved, and are widely accepted by experts. Public demonstrations of psychotherapy--such as those I hold every Friday night at the Albert Ellis Institute in New York--have become very popular and helpful. An extensive study conducted by Consumer Reports showed that therapy significantly helps nearly 80% of people who participate in it.
o Multicultural therapy is rapidly replacing a one-culture mentality. White, middle-class therapists are turning in great numbers to examine the cultural views of their clients, devising special methods of dealing with people of different backgrounds.
o In the field of addiction, psychotherapy has inspired thousands of 12-step and other support groups; it has reached education, business, management and labor areas.
o In the 19th century, major methods, such as behavior therapy, hardly existed; and cognitive-behavior therapy, which itself is multimodal and which I originated in 1955, is immensely popular today. Most therapists blend many therapies into their own main theory and practice, whereas in the past, they were forced to be loyal to one school of thought.
o The biological and neurological study of emotional disorders recently picked up speed, leading to distinctly improved medication for some disorders. Psychotherapists now refer many more of their clients to psychopharmacologists and psychiatrists, and physicians refer many more of their patients to psychotherapy.
o Although religious and spiritual issues were seriously neglected in early 20th century psychotherapy, recent research has shown that they are an important part of the human condition and may contribute significantly to helping people with disturbances. The research--which is quite rational as well as spiritual--is now common in later 20th century psychotherapy.
Psychotherapy is hardly the only miracle of this century. But as one of my clients recently remarked, "If therapy didn't exist, you or some other genius would have to invent it! .... Thank you," I replied, "not invent, but damned well try to improve!"
BEST OF PSYCHOLOGY TODAY 1967-1999
Those Who Simply Thought to Ask
BREAKTHROUGH: Jean Piaget, Interview by Elizabeth Hall, May 1970
Pour a tall glass of milk into a wide bowl and a child thinks she now has less milk. Piaget discovered that young children have no concept of "conservation"--the idea that matter maintains itself despite its container. He showed for the first time that human intelligence develops in stages.
PT: Your research revealed that children did not understand things that adults assumed they knew.
Piaget: It's just that no adult ever had the idea of asking children about conservation. It is so obvious to adults that if you change the shape of the object, the quantity will be conserved. Why ask a child? The novelty lay in asking the question.
PT: Going back 40 years, I know you did research on children's sense of justice. Suppose adults did not impose standards of right and wrong and cooperation upon children; would they develop a sense of morality anyway ?
Piaget: It would happen even earlier. And if adults are ready to discuss matters seriously with the children they will form a system of cooperation with the adults. From about the age of 7 or 8, justice prevails over obedience.
BREAKTHROUGH: Stanley Milgram, Interview by Carol Tavris, June 1974
In his most famous, most controversial study, Milgram raised the possibility that nearly everyone has the potential to follow authority to the point of committing murder. He also has a sense of humor and has conducted lighter studies--like the one below--to demonstrate our enduring fear of breaking rules, no matter how pointless they may seem.
Milgram: I suggested to the class we each go up to someone on the subway and simply ask for his seat. The immediate reaction of the class was exactly the same as yours (laughter). The class felt that no one in New York would give up his seat. They said the person would have to justify his request by asserting illness. Graduate students recoiled en masse. Why was it so frightening a project? Finally, one brave soul accompanied by a student observer was assigned the task of making the request courteously, and without initial justification, to 20 passengers.
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