The purpose of this paper is to review two models of personality and abnormal behavior: (1) the cognitive model of Albert Ellis (Ellis, 1979, 1989), and (2) the phenomenological model of Carl Rogers (Rogers, 1961, 1972, 1977). Each models is discussed in terms of its position regarding normal personalty development or normal mental health, and its position regarding the development of psychopathology.
This discussion of normal and abnormal processes is followed by a section in which similarities and differences between the two models are delineated. The final section of the paper presents a commentary in which the strengths and weaknesses of each model are addressed.
Like most cognitive theorists, Ellis (1979, 1989) states that all human behavior is based on the way an individual perceives, anticipates, or evaluates events. In other words, how individuals judge their circumstances or situations (and not the actual circumstances/situations) is what most profoundly affects their emotional reactions and behavior.
How an individual interprets events, according to Ellis, is a function of his or her "schema," which is defined as an individual's underlying assumptions about life, the world, other people, oneself, etc. These assumptions are said to influence the person's experiences, values, and perceived capabilities. The person with a normal or healthy mentality has a schema that is essentially rational and reality-based. Primarily, this rationality and reality-based schema is said to have arisen, in part, from interactions and experiences (especially childhood experiences/interactions) that reinforced this mode of thought, and in part from the individual's own self-reinforcing processes for rational, reality-based notions.
According to Ellis (1979, 1989), psychological problems are produced by irrational thought patterns that stem from the individual's belief system. In other words, unpleasant emotional responses ...