Albert Ellis was an American psychologist who in 1955 developed Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy . He held MA and PhD degrees in clinical psychology from Columbia University and the American Board of Professional Psychology . He also founded and was the President of the New York City-based Albert Ellis Institute for decades. He is generally considered to be one of the originators of the cognitive revolutionary paradigm shift in psychotherapy and an early proponent of cognitive-behavioral therapies.Based on a 1982 professional survey of US and Canadian psychologists, he was considered as the second most influential psychotherapist in history . Psychology Today noted, "No individual—not even Freud himself—has had a greater impact on modern psychotherapy." Wikipedia