CHOICE THEORY / REALITY THERAPY 2.
Implementing Specific procedures that lead to
PROPONENTS:
William Glasser
 Rejected Freudian model, says they tend to hold
people responsible of their behavior.
 It is best to talk to the sane parts of clients and not
their disturbed side.
 It is important that client accepts personal
responsibility for their behavior.
Robert Wubbolding
 Director of the center for reality therapy in
cincinnati.
 Director of training for the William Glasser Institute
KEY CONCEPTS:
Choice Theory - theoretical basis for reality therapy; it
explains why and how we function.
Reality Therapy - provides a delivery system for helping
individuals take more effective control of their lives.
5 Genetically needs that drive us all our lives:
1. Survival
2. Love and Belonging
3. Power
4. Freedom
5. Fun
 Underlying problem of most clients is the same:
they are either involved in a present unsatisfying
relationship or lack a relationship.
 Many of the problems of clients: inability to connect,
to get close to others, have a satisfying and
successful relationship, and unhappiness results for
how they choose to behave.
 Description of how people choose their behaviors is
their attempt to deal with the pain and frustration
from their experience of unsatisfied relationships.
 The heart of reality therapy is learning how to make
better and more effective choices and gain more
effective control.
 Short term approach requiring 10 sessions or less.
Quality World - information inside our minds our file of
wants, it is the core of our life
Picture Album - specific wants as well as precise ways
to satisfy these wants. We are attempting to behave in a
way that gives us the most effective control over our
lives
Total Behavior - acting, thinking, feeling and
physiology. Behaviour comes from inside and thus we
choose our destiny
CYCLE OF COUNSELING
1. Creating a working relationship with clients
2. Proceeds through an exploration of clients' wants,
needs and perceptions.
3. Clients explore their total behavior and make their
own evaluation of how effective they are in getting
what they want.
4. If clients decide to try new behavior, they make
plans that will lead to change and they commit
themselves to those plans.
5. Following up on how well clients are doing and
offering further consultation as needed.
2 major Components of Cycle of Counseling
1. Counseling Environment - supportive and
challenging environment allows client to beging
making life changes.
changes in behavior - assumption that we are
motivated to change: (1.) when we are convinced
that our present behavior is not meeting our needs.
(2.) When we believe we can choose other
behaviors that will get us closer to what we want.
The WDEP System
- key procedure in the practice of reality therapy.
- assist people in satisfying their basic need.
Wants, needs and perception, Direction and Doing, Self-
Evaluation, Planning
Wants (Exploring wants, needs and perceptions)
reality therapists assist clients in discovering their wants
and hopes. All wants are related to the 5 basic needs.
Direction and Doing - even though problems may be
rooted in the past, clients need to learn how to deal with
them in the present by learning better ways of getting
what they want.
Self – Evaluation – this evaluation involves the client
examining behavioural direction, specific actions, wants,
perceptions, new directions and plans.
Planning – helping clients identify specific ways to fulfil
their wants and needs.
THERAPIST ROLE
 Help and teach clients to make more effective
choices.
 Therapist as a teacher assumes a central role.
 Reality therapist teaches the clients choice theory,
so clients can identify unmet needs and try to
satisfy them.
 help clients to clarify these wants and assisting
them in prioritizing their wants and uncovering what
is most important to them
 reality therapists teach clients how to engage in self
– evaluation
 The role of the reality therapist is not making the
evaluation for clients but to challenge clients to
examine what they are doing.

ESSENCE OF THE THERAPY
We are responsible for what we choose to do. We are
internally motivated by current needs and wants and we
can control our present behavioral choices ( Glasser,
1996)
GOALS OF REALITY THERAPY
 Behavioral Change
 Better decision making
 Improved significant relationships
 Enhanced living
 More effective satisfaction of all the psychological
needs.
Reference:
Corey, G. (2015). Theory and Practice of Counseling
and Psychotherapy 10th Edition. In G. Corey,
Theory and Practice of Counseling and
Psychotherapy 10th Edition (pp. 311 - 336).
Boston: Cenveo Publisher Services.