Albert Ellis, PhD, was an American psychologist who in 1955 developed Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT). He held M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in clinical psychology from Columbia University and American Board of Professional Psychology (ABPP). 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 one of the founders of cognitive-behavioral therapies.^[2]

Based on a 1982 professional survey of US and Canadian psychologists, he was considered as the second most influential psychotherapist in history (Carl Rogers ranked first in the survey; Sigmund Freud was ranked third).^[3][4] Psychology Today noted, "No individual—not even Freud himself—has had a greater impact on modern psychotherapy."^[5] 

• Albert Ellis Profile at Albert Ellis.com

Robert Goulding, MD, is one of the leading exponents of Transactional Analysis. Along with his wife Mary Goulding, they developed an approach called Redecision Therapy. Redecision Therapy also includes unique elements based on the Goulding’s own experiences as seasoned psychotherapists. Their goal was to create a psychotherapy, based on the strengths and complimentary objectives of Gestalt therapy and Transactional Analysis, that was both brief and highly effective. Robert Goulding received his M.D. in 1944 from the University of Cincinnati and practiced general medicine until he switched to psychiatry in 1958. With his wife Mary, he founded the Wester Institute for Group and Family Therapy in Watsonville, California, and authored two books. Dr. Goulding is a Distinguished Life Fellow and member of the Board of Directors of the American Group Psychotherapy Association. He served as president of the American Academy of Psychotherapists. An extraordinarily talented therapist, he has synthesized Transactional Analysis and Gestalt into his own model, Redecision therapy.

• About Redecision Therapy at Addiction.com

Salvador Minuchin, MD, developed Structural Family Therapy, which addresses problems within a family by charting the relationships between family members, or between subsets of family. He was Director of the Philadelphia Child Guidance Clinic. Although it was minimally staffed when he began, under his tutelage the Clinic grew to become one of the most modeled and respected child guidance facilities in the world.  In 1981, Minuchin began his own family therapy center in New York. After his retirement in 1996, the center was renamed the Minuchin Center. Dr. Minuchin is the author of many notable books, including many classics. His latest is Mastering Family Therapy: Journeys of Growth and Transformation. In 2007, a survey of 2,600 practitioners named Minuchin as one of the ten most influential therapists of the past quarter-century.

• Site at the Minuchin Center.org

Zerka Moreno, TEP, along with her late husband, J.L. Moreno, developed the theory and practice of psychodrama. Zerka has taught psychodrama worldwide for more than 30 years since J.L. Moreno's death and is recognized as a leader in further realizing his vision. Zerka T. Moreno is honorary president of the American Society of Psychodrama and Group Psychotherapy; president of the Moreno Workshops; and honorary member of the Board of Directors of the International Association of Group Psychotherapy.

Zerka is the author and co-editor of many books and articles in the field of group psychotherapy and internationally known as a teacher, therapist and lecturer.

• The Zerka T. Moreno Foundation