Mike Abrams (psychologist)

Mike Abrams (1953) is an American psychologist and co-author with Albert Ellis of several works on rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT) and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). He is best known for extending CBT to include principles of evolutionary psychology and collaborating with the founder of CBT Albert Ellis to develop many new applications to for these clinical modalities. His new clinical method which applies evolutionary psychology and behavioral genetics to CBT is called Informed Cognitive Therapy (ICT). ^{[1] [2]}

Abrams is an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Psychology at New York University. ^[3]

Work With Albert Ellis

Abrams has collaborated with Albert Ellis on the several books and research, including the book "Personality Theories: Critical Perspective." Albert Ellis was a pioneering psychologist who died in July 2007 at age 93 and developed rational emotive behavior therapy, proposing that irrational beliefs rather than negative situations are often responsible for negative emotional experiences. Ellis has said that the book represented the first formal exposition of his "complete theory of personality." ^{[4] [5]}

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. ^[6] The book is only textbook on human sexuality that takes an exclusively evolutionary perspective. 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. He further extended the work of Ellis by publishing the first article, along with David Buss, to apply evolutionary psychology to CBT. ^[7]

Informed Cognitive Therapy

Recently, Abrams expanded upon the synthesis of CBT and evolutionary psychology with the book The New CBT: Clinical Evolutionary Psychology. ^[8]

Published works

Books

• Ellis, Albert; Abrams, Mike; Abrams, Lidia Dengelegi (2008). Personality Theories: Critical Perspectives. SAGE Publications. ISBN   9781412970624
• Abrams, Mike (2016). The New CBT: Clinical Evolutionary Psychology. Cognella Academic Publishing. ISBN   978-1516521623 ^[9]
• Ellis, Albert ;  Abrams, Mike (1992). The Art & Science of Rational Eating. ASIN   B00FFB9X98
• Abrams, Mike   (2016) Sexuality and Its Disorders: Development, Cases, and Treatment, ISBN   978-1412978804 ^[10]
• 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 ^[11]

Select publications

• Ellis, A., Abrams, M., Abrams, L (2008). Personality Theories: Critical Perspectives, Sage Press, 2008 ISBN 978-1-4129-1422-2 ^{[12] [13]} Abrams, M., Chronos, A., & Grdinic, M. M. (2022). Childhood abuse and sadomasochism: New insights. Sexologies, 15(3), 240-259.
• Abrams, M., Milisavljević, M., & Šoškić, A. (2019). Childhood abuse: Differential gender effects on mental health and sexuality. Sexologies: European Journal of Sexology and Sexual Health / Revue européenne de sexologie et de santé sexuelle, 28(4), e89–e96.
• 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.

References

1. "Easy Way to Read The New CBT: Clinical Evolutionary Psychology". magicofprovence,com. 2025-04-12.
2. "Book review: Mike Abrams' "The New CBT: Clinical Evolutionary Psychology" (PDF). EPSIG NEWSLETTER. 32 (July 2023): 3–4. July 2023.
3. New York University (2025) Department of Psychology: About People Graduate Undergraduate Research Events Courses - Mike Abrams Adjunct Professor (Accessed 11 Aug 2025) https://as.nyu.edu/psychology/people/faculty.mike-abrams.html
4. Ellis, A; Abrams, M (2008). Personality theories : critical perspectives. SAGE Publications. ISBN   978-1412970624.
5. Bang, Simon (2009-10-14). "Does Psychology Really Need AnotherPersonality Textbook?". PsycCRITIQUES. 54 (41): Article 6.
6. Abrams, M (2016). Sexuality: Development, Differences, and Disorders. Thousand Oaks, Ca: Sage Publications.
7. 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. doi:10.1007/s10942-016-0248-9.
8. Abrams, M (2020). The New CBT: Evolutionary Clinical Psychology. San Diego, Ca.: Cognella Press.
9. Abedy, Riadh (2021) An interview with Dr Mike Abrams on Clinical Evolutionary Psychology, Royal College of Psychiatrists, Evolutionary Psychiatry Special Interest Group (EPSIG), Newsletter April 4.
10. Colotla, V. A. (2017). On the ubiquity of sexuality [Review of the book Sexuality and its disorders: Development, cases, and treatment, by M. Abrams]. PsycCRITIQUES, 62(51). https://doi.org/10.1037/a0040958
11. Garrick, J. 1996. “How to Cope with a Fatal Illness: The Rational Management of Death and Dying, by Albert Ellis, Ph.D., And Michael Abrams, Ph.D.” Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy 26 (4): 411–12.
12. Boag, Simon (2009) Does Psychology Really Need Another Personality Textbook? A review of Personality Theories: Critical Perspectives by Albert Ellis and Mike Abrams (with Lidia D. Abrams), October 14, Vol. 54, Release 41, Article 6
13. McMahon, James (2009). [James McMahon, Interviewer - Mike Abrams , Interviewed Author] Author Motivation: An Interview Examining Personality Theory. Journal of Evidence-Based Psychotherapies, 9(1), 107.