William Glasser was a psychiatrist who developed Choice Theory and Reality Therapy. Some key aspects of his theories include: 1) He believed that people choose their behaviors to meet their basic psychological needs of survival, love/belonging, power, freedom, and fun. 2) External control models focus on criticizing and blaming others, while internal control models emphasize respect, support, and negotiation. 3) Choice Theory proposes replacing the "7 Deadly Habits of External Control" with the "7 Caring Habits of Choice Theory" to improve relationships.

1. William Glasser
• “. . . it is what you choose to do in a
Reality Therapy relationship, not what others choose
to do, that is the heart of reality
Chapter 11 therapy.”
Dr. Sheila K. Grant
Biography of Biography of
William Glasser William Glasser
• Born 1925 & educated at Case Western • Glasser's path a continuing progression from
Reserve University (Cleveland, Ohio). private practice to lecturing & writing,
ultimately culminating in publication of 20+
• Initial training in chemical engineering, books
then master’s in clinical psychology
• After writing counseling book, Reality Therapy
• Attended UCLA medical school & (1965), published his first book on education,
became a board certified psychiatrist in Schools without Failure (1969), greatly
1961 expanded understanding of motivation &
behavior with Choice Theory (1998), & finally
added, Warning: Psychiatry Can Be Hazardous
to Your Mental Health (2003), to help people
improve their mental health and happiness
Philosophy of Philosophy of
William Glasser William Glasser
• People should not be labeled with mental • People choose to be depressing, anxious,
illness unless they have a true brain panicky, angering, behaving in a way
disorder such as Alzheimer’s disease, that others say they have a psychosis,
epilepsy, head trauma & brain infections etc. in order to avoid other more painful
(they should all be treated by experiences or to reach out for help
neurologists) • They are coping in best way they know
• Otherwise, categories of DSM-IV-TR are how for given situation, which is usually
not mental disorders or illness caused either by relationship problem or
• Psychologists & psychiatrists should only a lack of a relationship at all
use DSM categories to satisfy
requirements of insurance companies to
receive payments
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2. Philosophy of Choice Theory:
William Glasser Need for a new Psychology
• The brain reacts to actions & thinking processes • Past 100 years, technology has progressed
of individual, rather than individual reacting as drastically, but human progress has been at a
result of an “imbalance in brain chemistry” as is standstill
popularly thought – Still wars, divorces, suicides, murder, poor productivity in
schools & workplace & unhappy people
• As a result, people do not need psychotropic or
“brain” drugs such as Prozac • Two groups of people of unhappy people:
– Those who try to find their way back to pleasurable
• Rather, they need psychotherapy to help them relationships w/happy people
with their relationships
– Those who have given up on relationships & try to feel
• Society should be in a more preventive mode good by other means (drugs, alcohol, violence, sex, abusing
rather than a reactive mode for psychological food, etc.)
behaviors, just as communities are for medical • Once this group can find meaningful relationships through AA
or other professional or nonprofessional counselors & teachers,
illness they too can find happiness again
Choice Theory: Choice Theory:
Need for a new Psychology Need for a new Psychology
• Glasser believes problem is external • Need to change our “7 Deadly Habits of External Control”
mindset of our society – Criticizing
– Blaming
– “You must do what I want or be the way I – Complaining Nagging
want you to be!” – Threatening
– Punishing
• Rather than letting us both decide what is – Bribing or rewarding to control
best for us in our relationship & then work • To the “7 Caring Habits of Choice Theory)”
together to make it happen – Respecting
• Glasser feels that society should move – Supporting
– Encouraging Listening
more towards internal locus of control
– Accepting
– Trusting
– Negotiating differences to a Win/Win situation
Choice Theory: Choice Theory:
Need for a new Psychology Basic Needs and Feelings
• Similar idea as Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
• Difficult to retrain our thinking & communication (Survival,Love/Belonging, Power, Freedom, & Fun)
because we are so engrained in the external control – Different in that only Survival & Love/Belonging are in
system both sets
• Three Beliefs of External Control Psychology: – Choice Theory needs are NOT in a hierarchy
– 1) My behavior is caused by something that occurs outside
of myself (e.g., “I answer the phone because it rings”) • Rather they are analogous to the legs of a chair --
– 2) I can make you do what I want you to do or we can if all legs are balanced, the chair functions better
control each other by what we say or do • Glasser believes that we are genetically
– 3) I know what’s right for you & if you don’t do it, I should & programmed to satisfy all five basic needs
must control you because it is the right thing to do
– Strongly Agree, Agree, Unsure, Disagree, Strongly Disagree • Negotiation is necessary to balance the needs of
Where are you on this continuum of beliefs both parties of a relationship
for #1, 2, & 3 • One party may need more of one need than the
other
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3. Choice Theory:
Choice Theory:
Basic Needs and Feelings
Basic Needs and Feelings • 1) Survival - Physiological Need
• There may also be an internal conflict to – All living creatures struggle to survive & reproduce
the species
satisfy multiple needs at same time
– Also, humans look beyond present survival needs &
– e.g., you want to be responsible & gain make an effort to live in ways that lead to longevity
respect of others but also want freedom & (exercise & eating healthy)
fun – Survival comes from the “old brain” – base of the
• McNamara (1997) also added intraneed brain As humans developed, cerebral cortex
or “new brain” allows us to have needs beyond
conflicts (e.g., survival
– “the need for survival can include the – If survival was our only need, there would be no
motivation to be safe & the urge toward anorexia or suicide
growth”) – Also getting along better with each other would
result in more survival & less death
Choice Theory:
Choice Theory:
Basic Needs and Feelings
• 2) Love & Belonging - Psychological Need Basic Needs and Feelings
– It’s a 2-way street • 3) Power – Psychological Need
• “I need to receive love, be involved & feel like I belong” – Distinctive human need
• “I feel better if I am able to give love & acceptance to
others” – Includes feeling of accomplishment, success,
– Most of psychotherapy in countries where survival needs
recognition, respect & being heard
are primarily met revolve around this need – For some, the need is insatiable
– Either lack of love or deteriorating love are associated – For others, they are satisfied with the amount they
with have
• Suicide – For some, it comes at the expense of their
• Mental Illness relationships with others (greed, external control
• Infidelity over others)
• Murder
– But for some, it may work for the common good
• Feelings of jealousy, abandonment, revenge & despair
(saving lives or developing new treatments)
– External control is used extensively here
– We need to strive for the latter rather than the former
Choice Theory: Choice Theory:
Basic Needs and Feelings Basic Needs and Feelings
• 4) Freedom to express ideas, choices & ability • 5) Fun – Psychological Need
to be constructively creativity – Psychological
Need – The genetic reward for learning
– It concerns us most when we perceive that our – We play all our lives & as a result we learn all
freedom is threatened our lives
– Need balance between “your need to try to force me
to live my life the way you want & my need to be free – “Fun is best defined by laughter”
of that force – “People who fall in love are learning a lot
– This balance is best expressed by the golden rule “Do about each other, & they find themselves
unto others as you would have others do unto you”
– External control is the enemy of freedom
laughing almost continually”
– When we loose freedom, we loose a defining human – “Laughing & learning are the foundation of
characteristic (creativity) all successful long-term relationships”
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4. Choice Theory Choice Theory
(Quality World) (Quality World)
• As people grow up & interact with • It is dynamic as our experiences
environment, they find some parts of
world satisfy their needs & make them
grow
feel good & other parts do not • Anytime we feel good, we are
• They take this information & build into choosing to behave so that
their memory pictures of people, things, something or someone in our real
beliefs or situations which seem to be the
best ways to satisfy one or more of the world comes close to matching the
basic needs image in our quality world
• The conglomerate of these wants is the
world in which we would like to live & is
called our Quality World
Choice Theory Choice Theory
(Quality World) (Quality World)
• Everyone has their own unique quality world • Besides being in conflict with other’s quality world
• Total objectivity is a myth wants, our own quality world wants can be in
• It could only exist if we all had exactly the same conflict with each other and/or they can be linked
quality worlds together
• It’s just like jury trials – everyone sees things from • Advertises hope that consumers will put their
a different perspective product into their quality world & link them to the
• Only things that are not important to us can be images the consumers already have in their minds
seen as they truly are (heroes, beauty, power, wealth, etc.)
• Luckily, there are enough of these unimportant • Pictures or wants exist in a priority & often it is the
things to almost all of us that we can agree that therapist’s job to help clients to determine priorities
what is out there is REALITY about what is need satisfying in the long term & not
just for the moment
Choice Theory Choice Theory
(Quality World) (Total Behavior)
• Besides being in conflict with other’s quality world • Behavior generated to fulfill quality world wants is
wants, our own quality world wants can be in always composed of four elements: actions,
conflict with each other and/or they can be linked thinking, feeling, & physiology
together
• All behaviors have all 4 components, so it is called
• Advertises hope that consumers will put their
product into their quality world & link them to the Total Behavior
images the consumers already have in their minds • Other psychotherapy theories emphasize one or two
(heros, beauty, power, wealth, etc.) of these components whereas Reality Therapy
• Pictures or wants exist in a priority & often it is the emphasizes all four of them
therapist’s job to help clients to determine priorities • However, we only have direct control over two of
about what is need satisfying in the long term & not
just for the moment them: Actions & Thinking
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5. Reality Therapy
Reality Therapy (Characteristics)
(Characteristics) • It is important to keep the therapy in the present &
not dwell on the past
• Reality therapy focuses on what clients can
• Glasser admits that we are products of the past &
control in a relationship, rather than finding
the therapist can listen to past experiences briefly,
fault or talking about what they can’t but we are not victims of the past unless we
control choose to be
• It is crucial for client to understand they • Also, it is important not to focus on the symptoms
can only control their own actions & because they are just the body’s way of warning
behavior, & they can control all of them client that behavior they are choosing is not
• Reality therapists strive to be themselves in satisfying a basic need
order to build relationships with client & • Glasser believes that if client believes therapist
teach them how to relate to others wants to hear symptoms or past, they will comply
• Therefore, transference is rejected in this & result will be therapy that lasts longer than it
therapy needs to
Reality Therapy Family Therapy
(Therapeutic Process) (Application: Therapeutic
Techniques & Procedures)
• Basic goal is to help clients learn better ways to
fulfill all of their basic needs & connect with the • Practice of reality therapy is conceptualized
people that they have chosen to put into their
quality world
as the “cycle of counseling” consisting of two
• If client has not voluntarily come to therapy, it is key components:
for therapist to focus on connecting with client – 1) Creating the counseling environment
before doing anything else – 2) Implementing specific procedures that lead to
• Often these clients have not had any positive changes
relationships in past with adults (teachers, parents,
school counselors, etc.) • Cycle begins by establishing a working
• Therapist’s role is not to judge or evaluate client but relationship with client & proceeds through an
act as an advocate to help & support, as a teacher exploration of client wants, needs &
or mentor to client & to encourage them that there perceptions
is hope
Family Therapy
(Application: Therapeutic
Reality Therapy From a
Techniques & Procedures) Multicultural Perspective
• Clients explore their total behavior & make • It is essential that cross-cultural therapists
their own self-evaluations respect differences between their own
quality world & that of their clients
• If they decide to try a new behavior, they
make plans & commit themselves to plan & • Counselor can work with client to help
them develop relationships as they are
there is a follow-up on how well client is doing
meaningful to them in their culture
• Reality therapy is an art form, not just • In some cultures, the procedures need to
following procedures be modified such as not asking direct
• Each client is different with different needs questions o accepting “I’ll try” when
asked to make plans with Japanese
clients
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6. Reality Therapy Reality Therapy
(Contributions) (Limitations and Criticisms)
• It has a short-term focus • Corey believes that for some cultures,
clients may be reluctant to voice their
• Existentialism exist in the theory as needs, & that discrimination & racism may
well as cognitive-behaviorism impede clients from obtaining what they
want in life
• There is no hidden agenda by the
• The result would be that client may feel
therapist, it is client focused misunderstood
• Client is encouraged to decide if • Corey also believes that the
what they are doing is working or psychoanalytic aspects of counseling
(unconscious, dreams, transference &
not past childhood experiences) are not
given adequate emphasis in influencing
our behavior
Reality Therapy Reality Therapy in Summary
(Limitations and Criticisms)
• Reality therapy is best characterized as a
• Counselors need to ensure that their form of cognitive behavioral therapy
own values & need to give advise • In Reality Therapy:
– Therapy is a didactic process
does not pervert the basic concepts – Clients must make commitments
of choice theory – Punishment is eliminated
• Many people disagree with Glasser – Therapists do not accept excuses or blaming
that all psychological disorders are • Goals:
– Clients are taught Choice Theory
behavioral choices & there are no – Clients are helped to get connected or
biochemical or genetic influences reconnected with people they have chosen
to put in their quality world
– Assist clients in dealing with the present
Reality Therapy in Summary
Reality Therapy in Summary
• Functions of Reality Therapists:
• Emphasis is on choice & responsibility – Setting limits in the therapeutic setting
• Therapist establishes involvement with the – Getting clients to be specific about how they will
client make desired changes
• Focus is on client’s strengths – Confronting clients by not accepting their excuses
– Helping clients reformulate their plans, if necessary
• Planning & commitment are essential
• Methods of Reality Therapy: • Reality Therapists deal with the following:
– What client is currently doing
– Behavior-oriented methods
– What clients are thinking & feeling, when this relates
– Contract method
to what they are doing
– Role-playing
– A client’s relationships with significant others
– Confrontation of client
– Assisting clients in developing an action plan
geared for change
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