Reality

Therapy
Urmeneta, Stephanie
C l a i r e F.
BSSW AS2-3
 William Glasser created reality therapy based on
his experience with clients.

 Reality therapy began when Glasser became

dissatisfied with psychoanalytic psychiatry as
taught at the Veterans Administration Brentwood
Hospital and at the University of California at Los
Angeles.

 On his own, Glasser began to focus on the present WILLIAM GLASSER

and to try to get patients to realize that they were
responsible for what they did, they had to change
themselves, and they could not count on others to
change or help them, no matter how much insight
they gained.
In 1965, Glasser became a consultant to the
Ventura School, a California Youth Authority
institution for delinquent girls, where the young
women had all been told that they were
emotionally disturbed and were not responsible
for their lawbreaking.

The Institute for Control Theory, Reality

Therapy, and Quality Management in Los WILLIAM GLASSER
Angeles, founded in 1968, promotes the
teaching of reality therapy applied to
psychotherapy, counseling, schools, agencies,
and management.
 Definition of Terms

• Control theory, which serves as the basis of Reality therapy, regards

human beings as motivated to survive and to fulfill four basic
psychological human needs: belonging, power, fun, and freedom. Human
behavior is seen as based on choices.

• Reality therapy helps people examine their wants and needs, evaluate
behaviors, and make plans for fulfilling needs.
 Definition of Terms

• Human needs are innate, not learned; general, not specific; and universal,
not limited to any specific race or culture.
• All behavior is aimed at fulfilling the four psychological needs of
belonging, power, fun (or enjoyment), and freedom, as well as the physical
need for survival.
• Effective satisfaction of these needs results in a sense of control that other
theories refer to as self-actualization, self-fulfillment, or becoming a fully
functioning person.
 Definition of Terms
• The a need for belonging - people learn to cooperate and function as a
unit, finding belonging in families, schools, jobs, social clubs, and
religious organizations.
• The need for power does not imply the exploitation of another person.
And although power prompts human beings to compete, it is not true that
when someone fulfills a need for power, someone else must lose power.
Satisfying the need for power involves accomplishment or achievement.
• Human beings also have a need for fun or enjoyment. Effective
fulfillment of this need results in the opposite of boredom, apathy, and
depression. The word “fun” as used here does not mean “silliness.” Rather,
it refers to enjoyment or pleasure.
 Definition of Terms

• The need for independence implies that if human beings are to function
in a fully human manner, they must have the opportunity to make choices
and to act on their own, without unreasonable restraints.
 Theory of Personality

Choice and Discovery

Reality therapy teaches that human beings choose behaviors. When choices
are made, people discover that the result attained is desirable or
undesirable. They thus discover whether their behaviors are effective or
ineffective in satisfying their needs. They also discover whether particular
aspects of the external world are pleasurable (need-satisfying), painful (not
need-satisfying), or neutral.
 Theory of Personality

PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT AND INDENTITY

Failure Identity, Less Effective Life Direction
Three stages of regression are characterized by identifiable total behaviors.

Stage 1: Giving up.

Stage 2: Choosing negative symptoms. a) anti-social actions, (b) negative
thinking, (c) negative feelings such as depression, and (d) negative
physiological conditions, such as psychosomatic disorders.
Stage 3: Negative addictions.
 Theory of Personality
Success Identity, More Effective Life Direction
An individual growing in this direction possesses a willingness as well as
a repertoire of skills for meeting the five needs of belonging, power, fun,
freedom, and survival in positive ways.

Stage 1: “I want to change, and I want to grow.”

Stage 2: Positive symptoms. These positive symptoms
include (a) altruistic actions, (b) effective thinking, such as “I can” or “I
am a valuable person,” (c) positive feelings, such as self-confidence,
enthusiasm, and trust, and(d) effective behaviors, such as a healthy diet
and exercise.
Stage 3: Positive addictions.
 Theory of Psychotherapy

Purposeful Behavior
• Behavior is the mechanism used to fulfill human needs. Marcus
Aurelius, perhaps the first control theorist, stated, “Nature has an aim
in everything.”
• We all act as sculptors molding the clay of our own behaviors in an
attempt to shape the world around us to match the image of what
we want.
 Theory of Psychotherapy

Behavior as Choice
• One of the most empowering aspects of reality therapy is
experienced by clients when the reality therapist repeatedly speaks
of “choice.”
• they cannot instantly choose to make radical changes in their feelings
or thoughts, they can make small, incremental changes in their
behavior. Over a period of time, these changes result in changes in
feelings, thinking, and, at times, even physiological or health-related
behaviors.
 Theory of Psychotherapy

Emphasis on Present
Since choice is a “here and now” phenomenon, the therapist emphasizes
current and recent life-style behaviors. It is true that our personal history
is important and interesting, and our current life and our direction for
the future are the sum of all that we have experienced.
 Theory of Psychotherapy

Role of Therapist
• Whether to lead the client or to follow is an individual decision of the
therapist and will vary across settings and situations.
• The therapist would listen supportively and gently help the client take
better charge of need-satisfying actions.
• In the latter situation, the therapist might be somewhat confrontive,
feeding back specific behaviors and asking for dozens of self-evaluations.
• But no matter what the setting, the practitioner creates an environment
that is firm, friendly, and conducive to change.
 Theory of Psychotherapy

Environment
• The atmosphere in the counseling relationship is one of firmness and
friendliness.
• Therapists use many skills in this endeavor, some of which are common
to other therapeutic methods,
• Setting the atmosphere is an ongoing process that continues throughout
the relationship.
• Utilizing such procedures enhances the environment, and the distinction
between environment and procedures is not absolute since each
interacts with the other.
 Process of Psychotherapy

Procedures
• “The art of counseling is to weave these components together in ways that
lead clients to evaluate their lives and decide to move in more effective
directions.” Glasser (1990)
• WDEP system - each letter representing a cluster of skills and techniques
for assisting clients to take better control of their own lives and thereby
fulfill their needs in ways satisfying to them and to society.
 Process of Psychotherapy

W: Ask clients what they want.

• By skillful and persistent questioning, the therapist helps clients
formulate, clarify, delineate, and prioritize the elements (desires)
contained in their quality world of mental pictures.
• By means of questioning, therapists help clients describe what they want
from themselves, from the world around them upon their lives.
• The “W” refers not only to wants, but also perceptions. More specifically,
the perceived locus of control (the perceived source of control over one’s
behavior) is discussed.
 Process of Psychotherapy

D: Ask clients what they are doing and their overall direction.
• “Where are your current choices taking you?” “Will you describe the
direction you are going without making a judgment about it?”
• These global questions are an attempt to help clients increase their
awareness of what their choices look like “from a distance.”
 Process of Psychotherapy

E: Ask clients to conduct a searching self-evaluation.

• Glasser (1990) has described self-evaluation as the core of reality therapy.
• Forms of self-evaluation include the following:
1. Evaluation of wants as realistic
2. Evaluation of wants as genuinely beneficial.
3. Evaluation of behavioral direction.
4. Evaluation of specific actions.
5. Evaluation of perception.
6. Evaluation of the plan of action.
7. Professional self-evaluation.
 Process of Psychotherapy

P: Ask clients to make Plans to more effectively fulfill their needs.

• When clients make plans and follow through, they are taking charge of
their lives by redirecting their energy.
• The therapist facilitates plan formulation by teaching clients that
successful plans have several characteristics.
• The plan should have SAMIC characteristics (Simple, Attainable,
Measurable, Immediate, and Committed)
• The most effective plans are those originating with the client. When
clients answer the question, “What is your plan?” with a detailed strategy
for change, they are clearly taking better charge of their life and its
direction.
 Process of Psychotherapy

Client Self-Evaluation
• All change, great and small, is preceded by the client’s judgment that life
is not as it could be and that a better, more rewarding future is possible.
• Explicit choice of more effective behaviors leading to improvement in
relationships, career, and leisure can be attained only after explicit
evaluation of current wants, behaviors, and perceptions.
 Mechanisms of Psychotherapy
More Effective Control and Need Fulfillment
a major part of reality therapy is helping clients develop, extend, clarify,
examine, and verbally describe their specific wants related to belonging,
power, fun and freedom.

Appropriate Environment
A prerequisite to change in therapy is trust in the therapist. Through
acceptance by the therapist, clients come to believe that they can speak
without fear and tell their story without being criticized or blamed.
Feeling appreciated, they are more willing to look deeper at the effectiveness
of their specific behaviors as well as their overall life direction.
 APPLICATIONS

Individual Therapy
• Most clients who voluntarily enter reality therapy receive treatment on a
one-to-one basis.
• As in any therapy, the therapist discusses professional details including
the procedures used in treatment.
• Clients are then asked to tell their story.
• The therapist attempts to make psychological contact using skills
fundamental to most therapies: active listening, reflection, clarification,
and many other processes useful in establishing a desirable therapeutic
environment.
 APPLICATIONS

Marriage and Family Therapy

Wubbolding (1988) has described how reality therapy is applied to family
therapy. The goals of reality-therapy-based family therapy include the
following:
1. Gain at least a modicum of need fulfillment.
2. Change levels of perception.
3. Use “quality time.”
4. Change behavior.