Reality/Choice Therapy

Reality/Choice Therapy
Reality therapy is an intra-personal assessment procedure developed by William Glasser. Unlike other therapy procedures that usually rely on past events, reality therapy focuses on the present issue to solve problems by making more specific goals. Notably, according to the theory, therapists believe that mental distress emanates from the lack of basic psychological needs. Basic psychological needs include freedom and independence, enjoyment and pleasure, sense of belonging and love as well as physical nourishment. According to Glasser, humans are continually striving to meet these psychological needs either consciously or unconsciously. Therefore, the theory enables individuals to be in control of their reality by changing their negative beliefs and attitudes and generating self-enhancing behavior and mechanisms to meet their psychological needs. According to

The counselor should create an enabling and trustworthy environment where the clients feel confident and secure in sharing information. Secondly, the choice theory is critical in reality therapy. The counselor should ensure that they are fully aware of the choice theory and assist the client in building realistic goals based on the theory. For instance, as humans, we have five most basic psychological needs: belonging, freedom and independence, love and power. Therefore, the counselor should help the client identify which requirements they want and how they are planning to achieve the need. Afterwards, the counselor will help them create achievable goals and realistic means of accomplishing the objectives satisfactorily. Mostly, the purpose of reality therapy is to focus on the present hence the counselor should ensure that the clients avoid any form of blame or excuse to the circumstances around them. Instead of excuses, clients should focus on what they can do rather than what they cannot