Reality Therapy

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What is Reality Therapy?

Reality therapy (RT) is an approach to psychotherapy and counseling. Developed by William Glasser in the 1960s, it is considered a form of cognitive behavioral therapy.  RT differs from conventional psychiatry, psychoanalysis and medical model schools of psychotherapy in that it focuses on what Glasser calls psychiatry's three R's: realism, responsibility, and right-and-wrong, rather than symptoms of mental disorders. Reality therapy maintains that the individual is suffering from a socially universal human condition rather than a mental illness. It is in the unsuccessful attainment of basic needs that a person's behavior moves away from the norm. Since fulfilling essential needs is part of a person's present life, reality therapy does not concern itself with a client's past. Neither does this type of therapy deal with unconscious mental processes. In these ways reality therapy is very different from other forms of psychotherapy.

Who is the Founder of Reality Therapy?

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William Glasser (May 11, 1925)

William Glasser was born on May 11, 1925 in Ohio. He attended Case Western Reserve University, from where he earned both his BA and his MA. He continued his education in California and received his MD from UCLA. Glasser worked as a psychiatrist for the VA in the beginning of his professional career. It was during this time that he met his mentor, Dr. G.L. Harrington. Glasser spent much of his lifetime focusing on the development of his theories, specifically his Choice Theory. He studied the effects of control and how it related to psychology and observed this dynamic in his own clients over decades of private practice. He examined how the choices each individual made affected the other, and focused on the fact that each had the power to made their own, unique, personal choices, independent of the other. In 1967, Glasser opened the Institute for Reality Therapy.

 

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Techniques of Reality Therapy

Reality therapy is a cycle of counseling (counseling environment & procedures for behavior change)

W= wants, explore wants, needs and perceptions

D= direction and doing, focus on what clients are doing and the direction they are headed

E= evaluation, challenge clients to evaluate their total behavior (continual basis)

P= planning and commitment, assist in the formulation of realistic plans and making commitment to carry out plans

Goals of Reality Therapy

·         Overall goal- assist clients to better meet their needs for love, belonging, survival, power, freedom, and fun.

·         Help clients gain psychological strength, accept personal responsibility, regain control of lives

·         Challenge clients to examine what they are doing, thinking, and feeling

·         Teach client to self-evaluate behaviors and determine what they want to change

·         Personal growth, Improvement, Enhanced lifestyle, Decision making

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(nd) Retrieved from:  http://newcounselor.blogspot.com/2012/04/reality-therapy.html

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 (nd) Retrieved from: http://wgiwestregion.com/

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(nd) Retrieved from:  http://brentonrussell.com/2010/12/20/design-your-lifestyle-for-happiness-and-fulfillment/

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(nd) Retrieved from:  https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_0RiNMxMXbA1n7N__I3qbgrijp0Mu4oXJTqyPgAMNFFYEmrOQwcRf2FBDtmXwomPPoSuCy37hzcS274yd4effT9SehI8e8PVMh57Vxn-nT8TlzF41xOl_EMatJsvRsK9adc1jm24iAiW5/s1600/happiness20hands.jpg