Dr. Albert Ellis, the controversial shrink who founded a renowned psychotherapy institute on the Upper East Side and whose theories helped shape modern psychotherapy, died yesterday at age 93.
Ellis developed rational emotive behavior therapy, which focuses on patients controlling self-defeating thoughts.
In 1982, a survey the American Psychological Association ranked him as the second most influential in the field ahead of Sigmund Freud and behind Carl Rogers, the founder of humanistic psychology.
Ellis was embroiled in controversy two years ago when the board of the institute that bears his name tried to remove him – with a board lawyer calling his expenses “preposterous.”
Last year, a judge ruled that the board had removed Ellis without proper notice and reinstated him.
“We all owe a great debt to Dr. Ellis,” said Robert O’Connell, the institute’s director.