Reality therapy / choice theory

"Don't tell me about your past — tell me what you're choosing right now." That's the spirit of William Glasser's approach, and it's why examiners love it: it's relentlessly present-focused, anti-excuse, and built on the radical idea that we choose almost everything we do.

The theory half is Choice Theory (Glasser's renamed Control Theory): behavior is our best attempt to meet five built-in basic needs. Memorize them — Survival (physiological), Love/Belonging, Power (achievement, worth), Freedom (independence), and Fun (enjoyment/learning). Love/belonging is considered primary. We build a quality world — an inner picture album of the people, things, and beliefs that satisfy those needs — and we behave to close the gap between what we want and what we perceive we're getting.

Crucially, all behavior is total behavior, made of four inseparable components: acting, thinking, feeling, and physiology. Glasser's car metaphor: acting and thinking are the front wheels (the ones we steer, the ones we control directly), while feeling and physiology are the back wheels that follow. So you can't directly choose to "stop feeling depressed," but by changing what you do and think, the feelings follow. Glasser even used verbs — "depressing" — to stress that it's a chosen behavior.

The therapy half is delivered through the WDEP system (Robert Wubbolding): W = Wants (What do you want? Explore the quality world); D = Doing/Direction (What are you doing now?); E = Evaluation (Is it working? — the pivotal self-evaluation step); P = Planning (make a SAMIC plan — simple, attainable, measurable, immediate, controlled by the client). The counselor builds involvement, accepts no excuses, and avoids punishment, focusing on responsible, present choices.

Clinical Pearl: The engine of reality therapy is the E in WDEP — self-evaluation: the client, not the counselor, judges whether current behavior is getting them what they want. And remember the five needs — Survival, Love/Belonging, Power, Freedom, Fun.