SMART didn't come out of nowhere. It pulls from decades of work in psychology, and some
of its core ideas go back almost 2,000 years. Here are some of the people whose ideas shaped
it, plus one we think fits right alongside them.
Epictetus
Stoic philosophy · around 50 to 135 CE
Epictetus was a Greek Stoic philosopher who was born into slavery. His best known idea is
that people are disturbed not by things, but by the views they take of them. Albert Ellis
credited the Stoics, and Epictetus in particular, as an influence on REBT, so that idea runs
right through to SMART's ABC Exercise. Other Stoics, like Seneca and Marcus Aurelius, wrote
about similar things, especially focusing on what you can control and accepting what you can't.
Stoicism and SMART Recovery →
Albert Ellis
Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT)
Ellis was a psychologist who created REBT, which looks at how our beliefs about what
happens to us shape how we feel and what we do. He served on SMART's advisory council
and hosted SMART trainings at his institute in New York, and SMART has called him its
"patron saint." SMART's ABC Exercise and its work on disputing unhelpful beliefs come
from his approach.
SMART's tribute to Albert Ellis →
William R. Miller
Motivational Interviewing
Miller is a psychologist who developed motivational interviewing with Stephen Rollnick.
It's a way of helping people work through their mixed feelings about change instead of
being pushed into it. SMART draws on motivational approaches, and you can see it in tools
like the Cost Benefit Analysis, where you honestly weigh what a behavior gives you
against what it costs you.
About motivational interviewing →
Aaron T. Beck
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
Beck was a psychiatrist who founded cognitive therapy, the foundation of what's now
called CBT. CBT focuses on how thoughts, feelings, and behaviors affect each other,
which is basically SMART's third point. SMART is built in part on CBT.
About Aaron T. Beck →
G. Alan Marlatt
Relapse Prevention
Marlatt was a psychology professor who directed the Addictive Behaviors Research Center
at the University of Washington. He's known for his work on relapse prevention, which
is about noticing risky situations and planning for them ahead of time. SMART's original
program drew on cognitive behavioral and relapse prevention ideas like his.
About G. Alan Marlatt →
Dr. Joe Gerstein
SMART Recovery founder
Gerstein is a physician and one of SMART's founders. He created the Hierarchy of Values
tool, where you write down what matters most to you and then look at whether your
behavior is helping you live by those values or getting in the way.
Try the Hierarchy of Values →
Viktor Frankl
Logotherapy · related reading
Frankl wasn't part of SMART, but his ideas fit well with it. He was a psychiatrist and
Holocaust survivor who wrote Man's Search for Meaning and developed logotherapy,
which centers on finding meaning and purpose and on our freedom to choose how we respond,
even when things are hard. That lines up with SMART's focus on values and building a
balanced life that feels worth living.
About logotherapy →
These links go to outside sites. They're here for learning, not as endorsements.
