Mike Abrams (psychologist)

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Mike Abrams (born 1953) is an American psychologist, author and academic who has written several books on rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT) and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). He is known for extending CBT to incorporate the principles of evolutionary psychology. With Albert Ellis, he co-authored an influential text called Personality Theories: Critical Perspectives. His new clinical method, which applies evolutionary psychology and behavioral genetics to CBT, is called Informed Cognitive Therapy (ICT).

Academic work

In addition to his published academic research, Abrams has served on the editorial boards of five scholarly journals including the Journal of Child and Adolescent Trauma, New Ideas in Psychology, Journal of Rational‑Emotive & Cognitive‑Behavior Therapy, Behavioral Sciences, and BMC Psychiatry. He is also an adjunct professor in the Department of Psychology at New York University.

Work with Albert Ellis

For 17 years, Abrams collaborated with Albert Ellis. They worked together on several books and research, including the book Personality Theories: Critical Perspective, which was co-authored between Ellis, Abrams, and his wife Dr. Lidia Abrams. Ellis, who died in 2007, developed rational emotive behavior therapy, proposing that irrational beliefs rather than negative situations are often responsible for negative emotional experiences. In the book that Ellis co-authored with Abrams, Ellis wrote that it represented the first formal exposition of his "complete theory of personality." The library at Conestoga College called the book an "enlightening text" and said that it should be "required reading for upper-level undergraduate and graduate courses in psychology, counseling and social work".

Work on Evolutionary Psychology

After Ellis' death, Abrams continued Ellis's work on sexuality by taking an evolutionary psychology perspective to love and intimacy. This work reached fruition in his book on sexuality titled Sexuality: Development, Differences, and Disorders. The book takes an exclusively evolutionary perspective on human sexuality, which is unusual among psychology textbooks. Abrams wrote the book utilizing a journalistic approach interviewing many of the best known evolutionary psychologists such as David Buss, Doug Kenrick, Helen Fisher, and J. Philipe Rushton to provide multiple and often conflicting perspectives. A review of the book in PsycCRITIQUES, a publication of the American Psychological Association, observed that "The main thrust of the book is to present an up-to-date analysis of empirical studies on human sexuality, particularly from a Darwinian perspective" and "Abrams's choice of researchers who helped begin the scientific study of sexual behavior is excellent, since no important figure is excluded from his analysis". He further extended the work of Ellis by publishing an article, along with David Buss, applying evolutionary psychology to CBT.

Informed Cognitive Therapy

In 2016, Abrams expanded upon the synthesis of CBT and evolutionary psychology with the book The New CBT: Clinical Evolutionary Psychology.

Adam Hunt, reviewing the book for the Evolutionary Psychiatry Special Interest Group in the United Kingdom, wrote that it is "the most extensive attempt by any therapist to interweave evolutionary theory with psychological therapy" and that "Abrams offers a solid and pioneering approach which offers something evolutionary psychiatry dearly needs - more contact with therapeutic change".

Select publications

• Abrams, Mike (2016). The New CBT: Clinical Evolutionary Psychology. Cognella Academic Publishing. ISBN 978-1516521623 Search this book on .
• Abrams, Mike (2016) Sexuality and Its Disorders: Development, Cases, and Treatment, ISBN 978-1412978804 Search this book on .
• Abrams, M. (2018) RE/CBT for sexual disorders. In Dryden and Bernard (Eds.) REBT Best-Practice applications. London, England: Springer.
• Buss, D. M., & Abrams, M. (2017). Jealousy, infidelity, and the difficulty of diagnosing pathology: A CBT approach to coping with sexual betrayal and the green-eyed monster. Journal of Rational-Emotive & Cognitive-Behavior Therapy, 35(2), 150–172.
• Ellis, Albert ;  Abrams, Mike (1992). The Art & Science of Rational Eating. ISBN 978-0942637601 Search this book on .
• Ellis, Albert ;  Abrams, Mike (1994). How to Cope with a Fatal Illness: The rational management of death and dying, New Jersey: Barricade Books. ISBN 978-1569800058 Search this book on .
• Ellis, A., Abrams, M., Abrams, L (2008). Personality Theories: Critical Perspectives. ISBN 978-1412970624 Search this book on .

References

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