REALITY THERAPY

(CHOICE THEORY)
Wiliam Glasser & Robert Wubbolding

Reality Therapy
 One of the basic concept of Reality Therapy is that human behavior is controlled
by the individual and therefore based on choice

 Individuals who are unhappy with their current behavior have the capacity for
exploring and discovering new behaviors and replacing the old ineffective ones

Reality Therapy Concepts

1996 Glasser had revised this theory and renamed it to Choice Theory (Control
Theory)
 Emphasizes that individuals are responsible for what they do
 All people have choice about what they are doing
We are responsible for solving our problems through our choices
 Behavior is viewed as our best attempt to get what we want
 Behavior is purposeful; it is designed to close the gap between what we want and
what we perceive.
 Our behaviors came from the inside and thus we choose our won destiny
 Therapist’ function is to keep focused on present
Little or no time is spent delving into the past

 Glasser admits that we are products of the past and the therapist can listen to
past experiences briefly, but we are not victims of the past unless we choose to
be

 Glasser believes that all of us humans motivated to satisfy one or more of the 5
basic genetically encoded human needs or they’re known as:

CHOICE THEORY
 Purpose in life is to fulfill our needs and hwen they’re not being met it can affect
our behavior and relationships
Glasser’s five basic needs
 Glasser’s Five Basic Needs
Survival

 This need is a physiological need, which includes the need for food, shelter and
safety. Because we have genetic instructions to survive, not only as individuals
but as a species, this includes the need to reproduce
What do we need to survive?

Love and Belonging

 This need and the following three needs are psychological needs. The need to love
and belong includes the need for relationships, social connections, to give and
receive affection and to feel part of a group
What makes you feel loved?
Power

 To be powerful is to achieve, to be competent, to be skilled, to be recognized for

our achievements and skill, to be listened to and have a sense of self worth
What makes you feel powerful?
Freedom

 The need to be free is the need for independence, autonomy, to have choices and
to be able to take control of the direction of one’s life
What makes you feel free?
Fun
 The need for fun is the need to find pleasure, to play and to laugh. This is as
important as any of the others, imagine a life without hope and of any enjoyment.

Need of fun Playing Learning

 Asserting that the day we stop playing is the day we stop learning
What do you do for fun?

Glasser believes that human personality development is an attempt to fulfill these 5

basic needs

Key Concepts
 The behavior is our attempt to control our perceptions of the external world so
they fit to our internal and need-satisfying world.
 We develop an inner “mental picture album” (quality world) of wants, which
contains precise images of how we would best like to fulfill our needs
 A core principle of reality therapy/choice theory is that no matter how hard the
circumstances, we all have a choice
Total Behavior
 It is the same for a person to display any
behavior, all four components are present and
must work simultaneously.
 It is designed to close the gap between what we
want and what we perceived we are getting

Therapeutic Process-Techniques
FOUR KEYS PROCEDURES (WDEP System by Wubbolding, 1958)

Wants- exploring wants, needs and perception

Direction or doing- focusing on what clients are doing and what direction that this is
taking them

Evaluation- challenging clients to make an evaluation for their total behavior

Planning and commitment- assisting clients in formulating realistic plans and making
a commitment to carry them out

Therapeutic Goals
Overall goals:

 To help people find better ways to meet their needs for survival, love and
belonging, power, freedom and fun.
 Changes in behavior should result in the satisfaction of basic needs.
 Personal growth improvement, enhanced lifestyle and better decision making.
 Helps client gain the psychological strength to accept personal responsibility for
their lives and assist them in learning ways to regain control of their lives and
to live more effectively.
 Clients are challenged to examine what they are doing, thinking and feeling to
figure out there is a better way for them to function.

Ten Axioms of Choice Theory

1. The only person whose behavior we can control is our own.
2. All we can give another person is information.
3. All long-lasting psychological problems are relationship problems.
4. The problem relationship is always part of our present life
5. What happened in the past has everything to do with what we are today, but we
can only satisfy our basic needs right now and plan to continue satisfying them
in the future.
6. We can only satisfy our need by satisfying the pictures in our Quality World
7. All we do is behave
8. All behavior is Total Behavior and is made up of our components:
 Acting
 Thinking
 Feeling
 Physiology
9. All Total Behavior is chosen, but we only have direct control over the acting and
thinking components. We can only control our feeling and physiology identity
through how we choose to act and think.
10. All Total Behavior is designated by verbs and named by the part that is
more recognizable.