Kishor Moreshwar Phadke (20 February 1936 – 31 January 2022), also known as K. M. Phadke, was an Indian psychologist, and practitioner and trainer in Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT). He held M.A. degree in psychology from Pune University. He is first Indian psychologist who enjoys the unique distinction of being a fellow and supervisor of the Albert Ellis Institute in New York City. He is best known as a pioneer of REBT in India. Due to his distinguished contributions to REBT, Indian psychologists consigned a unique title to his therapy – Ellis-Phadke therapy.Joshi, A. (19 February 2011) Viveknishtha Maharshee, Loksatta, Pg 8.Yeolekar, C.T. (2009) (Eds) Vrudhhatvachi Shan, Padmakar Nagpurkar, Granthali Prakashan , 2nd edition He has authored nine Marathi books, several popular articles and papers and co-authored five English books.
Background and education Kishor was born during the late British Raj on 20 February 1936 in a Maharashtrian family. The origin of his family can be traced to Haripant Phadke, who was a lieutenant general in the Darbar of Peshwas. His father was a general practitioner (MBBS) in Pune whereas his mother was a housewife. The couple had four children, two of whom have died. His uncle also served as communist leader during the freedom movement. Kishor has completed honours Degree course in philosophy and Masters course in psychology from Pune University in 1959.
Early career In 1959, Kishor began his career in Ruparel College, Mumbai. He first worked as a demonstrator, then lecturer and finally officiating professor and head of the department. After serving for 5 years in Ruparel College, he joined ATIRA as a junior scientific officer in Human Relations division. Gradually, he got promoted as a senior scientific officer which gave him an opportunity to conduct various industry research projects.Joshi, A. (19 February 2011) Viveknishtha Maharshee, Loksatta, Pg 8.
Correspondence with Albert Ellis Source:Albert Ellis Papers, Series I: Correspondence, 1947-2006, Correspondence of K.M. Phadke & Dr. Albert Ellis, Columbia University Libraries Archival Collection
Phadke wrote his first letter to Ellis on 29 April 1968 and the correspondence lasted for 36 years. Phadke's correspondence with Ellis is considered to be one of the finest sources for REBT learners. It is of 1351 pages (bounded in four volumes). It consists of Phadke's queries/enquiries about REBT and responses given by Ellis. Phadke had been questioning, challenging and attacking almost every aspect of theory and practice of REBT. Dr. Eliis, perhaps the world's best authority on the subject, also kept sending him various books as well as articles. In 1987, Windy Dryden, a professor of Psychotherapeutic Studies at Goldsmiths, University of London expressed his wish to see this correspondence. He was very much impressed after reading these volumes and also wrote to Phadke saying that he (Phadke) really had an insatiable desire for knowledge and his attention to detail was worthy of an academic.Ellis, A. (1994). Reason and Emotion in Psychotherapy: Revised and Updated. Carol Publishing, pg 461. After Ellis' death, these volumes are preserved and cited in Archives of Columbia University.Albert Ellis Papers, Series I: Correspondence, 1947-2006, Correspondence of K.M. Phadke & Dr. Albert Ellis, Columbia University Libraries Archival Collection
REBT: The life goal Phadke had left ATIRA in 1969 and joined Mumbai University as a demonstrator in the Department of Psychology. He left the university in 4 years and joined as faculty at Sir Sorabji Pochkanawala Bankers Training College, Mumbai in 1973. He was aiming to spread REBT throughout India. With this vision, he resigned his teaching post at Banking college in 1981 and established his own training centre. It was named 'Phadke Centre' with the objective of imparting education for life through REBT.
Phadke Centre Phadke Centre,Albert Ellis Papers, Series I: Correspondence, 1947-2006, Correspondence of K.M. Phadke & Dr. Albert Ellis, Columbia University Libraries Archival Collection the first learning center of REBT in India, offered a variety of individual and group programmes founded on the principles and techniques of REBT. He created his own training modules of primary and advanced workshops for professionals as well as two day workshops for non-professionals. Thousands of trainees, more than 200 organizations organized his training programmes for their employees, about 10000 executives from all levels of management. In the contemporary transactional analysis' era, training in REBT was just inconceivable to industry. Being a pioneer, Phadke encountered considerable opposition from the start but using REBT's philosophy, he could develop an elegant model of training programmes for industries. He has delivered professional talks in various business, industrial, educational, research and training organizations.
Challenges and struggles After getting first introduction to REBT at Gujarat University, Phadke started reading books on wide range of subjects such as psychology, philosophy, literature, language, political science, economics, sociology. These books assisted him to study, investigate and deeply engage with issues and concerns related to human behaviour. During this time, he started correspondence with Dr. Ellis regarding his questions and queries. Ellis also started to send him his books and articles along with the answers. Phadke faced many problems in receiving the posts. Despite that, today he has a collection of Ellis' 76 books and more than 600 articles and research papers. Needless to mention, he has deeply studied and analysed this material. His source of learning REBT was from Ellis' books, some of which contained verbatim records of Ellis' cases. He studied numerous cases of Ellis, drew his own conclusions and compared them to those of Ellis.
Fellow and supervisor In 1977, Institute for Advanced Study in Rational Psychotherapy, (currently known as Albert Ellis Institute , New York) honored him the status of 'Fellow' and later, in 1989, he was awarded the honour of 'Supervisor'.Ellis, A. (2007). Overcoming resistance: A rational emotive behavior therapy integrated approach Springer Publishing Company According to the regulations of the institute of that time, the status of fellow was given to only those aspirants who had a post-doctorate in psychology and had completed two years intensive training programme of the institute.Short Term Therapy, Long Term Results, Catalog 2007-08, Albert Ellis Institute, pg 6. Although Phadke had neither a doctorate nor had he visited the institute, the concerned committee got convinced with significance of his work in India and made Phadke an exception to the criteria. The status of supervisor enabled him to conduct training programmes for professionals.
Contributions to REBT Absence of efficient communication system between Phadke and his mentor, Dr. Ellis, forced him to rely on his own resources and made him to innovate his own techniques of practicing REBT. This elegant method of learning resulted in new research findings in the theory and practice of REBT. Ellis praised his dedication and mastery over this subject with saying 'I still feel you are the only person in Asia that I consider to be extremely well qualified to practice and preach REBT.Albert Ellis Papers, Series I: Correspondence, 1947-2006, Correspondence of K.M. Phadke & Dr. Albert Ellis, Columbia University Libraries Archival Collection He has made original contributions to the theory and practice of REBT, which were greatly acknowledged by Ellis. Some of the contributions to the theory of REBT are as follows:
Denotation of 'D' letter In the classical form, the letter 'D' in the A-B-C-D-E theory stands for the therapeutic technique of Disputing the client's irrational beliefs. Phadke expanded the letter 'D' and created modified three-fold denotation- a) Detection b) Disputation c) Discrimination. Ellis has incorporated this denotation in ABC structure of REBT.Ellis, A. (1977). Anger: How to Live With and Without It. Reader's Digest Press, pg 56.
Enlargement of 'B' letter Phadke demonstrated to Ellis that it is incorrect to classify desires, preferences, demands and commands as Beliefs- rational or irrational. In order to incorporate the human motives in the A-B-C theory, he coined the more comprehensive term for B- Bedrock of Biosocial Forces. In the later years, he reinterpreted letter 'B' more accurately as bipartite belief system. It includes the detection of binary message which the client signals to himself as well as the bipartite belief system, implied in that message.Digiuseppe, Raymond(2007). Overcoming resistance: A rational emotive behavior therapy integrated approach. Springer Publishing Company.
Redefinition of 'C' Phadke gave a special thought to 'C' which was earlier described merely as Consequences. He precisely named it as 'Choice-blocking consequences'.Arthur Freeman, 2004, Cognition and Psychotherapy: second edition, Springer Publishing Company In later years, he further elaborated it by making a distinction between choice freeing consequences leading to healthy emotions and choice blocking consequences leading to unhealthy emotions.
Extension of 'E' One of the REBT proponent, GarciaGarcia, E.J. (1977). Working on the E in RET. in J.L. Wolfe and E. Brand (Eds). Twenty Years of Rational Therapy, New York: Institute for Rational Living. suggested the letter 'E' could stand for a) Empathy b) Emotion and c) Experience. Phadke added yet another meaning to the letter E, namely Enthusiasm.Ellis Albert,1996, Better, Deeper And More Enduring Brief Therapy: The Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy Approach, Routledge
Modification of the Approval Principles After closely observing the behavior of hundreds of people, Phadke arrived at the conclusion that the principle of Approval in REBT has to be supplemented by the Principle of Disapproval which he stated as follows: 'No one should dislike or disapprove of me for whatever I do.' Ellis graciously accepted his suggestion and it was incorporated in his subsequent presentation of masturbatory ideologies.Ellis, A. (1979). The intelligent woman's guide to dating and mating. Secaucus, N.J: Lyle Stuart. pg 200. Phadke went further and suggested a two-fold classification of masturbatory ideologies instead of three. 1. What I should get, feel and do. 2. What I should not have to get, feel and do. This classification made the work of detecting the irrational beliefs easyEllis Albert,1996, Better, Deeper And More Enduring Brief Therapy: The Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy Approach, Routledge
Review of Rationality Phadke pointed out that five criteria of rational behavior proposed in REBT were not sufficiently comprehensive. They seemed to omit a vital aspect of man's behavior towards others. In order to cover that aspect, he suggested an additional criterion- Rational behavior does no needless, definite and deliberate harm to othersEllis, A. (1977). How to Live With and Without Anger. Reader's Digest Press, pg 56
Emotive-Rational Therapy Phadke proposed that the distinction between Rational Emotive Therapy (RET) and Emotive Rational Therapy (ERT) can generate at least verifiable hypotheses. He further elaborated that the clients' irrational beliefs about himself may be disputed by using ERT whereas the clients' irrational beliefs about others and the world may be disputed effectively by using RET. RET is more effective in disputing the client's inferences whereas ERT is more effective in disputing the client's evaluationsEllis Albert,1996, Better, Deeper And More Enduring Brief Therapy: The Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy Approach, Routledge
New format of teaching REBT