Chapter 11: Choice Theory/Reality Therapy

Internally motivated behavior is geared toward meeting one or more of our basic genetically encoded needs:

• What are the needs?

1. Survival

2. Love and belonging

3. Power

4. Freedom

5. Fun

Quality world

Consists of our visions of specific people, activities, events, beliefs, and situations that will fulfill our needs.

• Like a photo album of specific wants as well as precise ways to satisfy these wants.

  • Getting into the clients’ quality world is the art of therapy.

William Glasser

A psychiatrist who rejected Freudian psychoanalysis because he felt it didn’t help clients take responsibility for their actions.

• What he believed: People have the power to choose their behaviors. Problems arise when individuals make choices that don’t meet their basic needs in responsible ways.

• His approach: Focus on the sane part of a person — their ability to make rational choices — rather than labeling them as “sick.”

Robert E. Wubbolding’s Role

A counselor, psychologist, and former priest who expanded and systematized Glasser’s work.

• His contribution: Created the WDEP model, which helps clients reflect on:

  • W – What do you want?

  • D – What are you doing?

  • E – How do you evaluate what you’re doing?

  • P – What’s your plan for change?

His focus: Making Reality Therapy adaptable across different cultures and contexts (schools, military, international programs).

W

What do you want?

• Exploring Wants, Needs, and Perceptions

  • All wants are related to the five basic needs (love, power, fun, freedom, survival)

  • Their quality world

• Key questions:

  • What do you want? ← this is the key question

  • If you were the person that you wish you were, what kind of person would you be?

  • What would your family be like if your wants and their wants matched?

  • What would you be doing if you were living as you want to live?

  • Do you really want to change your life?

  • What is it you want that you don’t seem to be getting from life?

  • What do you think stops you from making the changes you would like?

• Include questions focused on perceptions:

  • How do you look at the situation?

  • Where do you see your control?

People have a great deal more control than they often perceive, and these questions help clients move from a sense of external control to a sense of internal control.

D

What are you doing?

• Direction and Doing

  • Focus on present behavior

Key questions:

• What are you doing? ← this is the key question

• “What do you see for yourself now and in the future?”

• “What are you doing now?” “What did you actually do yesterday?” “What did you want to do differently this past week?”

• “What stopped you from doing what you said you wanted to do?”

• “What will you do tomorrow?”

Core idea:

• Feelings aren’t ignored, but emphasis is on actions and thoughts

  • Change doing + thinking → feelings change later

E

How do you evaluate what you’re doing?

• Self-Evaluation

  • The most important step, cornerstone of reality therapy

    • “Conducting a searching and fearless self-evaluation is the royal road to behavioral change” (Wubbolding)

P

What’s your plan for change?

• Planning (Commitment to action) (Planning and Action)

  • Clients create a specific and realistic plan to make better choices.

Key question:

• What is your plan?

  • A good plan must follow SAMIC³:

Reality Therapy

encourages personal responsibility and practical problem-solving.

• The practice (the “how”) — it gives therapists methods to help clients make better choices.

  • the train (the method that carries the theory into real-life practice)

• Provides a delivery system for helping individuals take more effective control of their lives

Choice Theory

explains human motivation and behavior.

• The foundation (the “why”) — it explains how and why people behave the way they do.

  • the train tracks (the theoretical framework)

• The theoretical basis for reality therapy; it explains why and how we function

• Says that all behavior is chosen and purposeful, made up of four connected parts: acting, thinking, feeling, and physiology.

  • When we experience pain or unhappiness, it’s because we’re engaging in behaviors that don’t effectively meet our needs. By becoming aware of these patterns and choosing new actions and thoughts, we can gain greater control over our lives and relationships.

Core Belief of Reality Therapy

• Reality therapists believe the underlying problem for many clients is the same: they are either involved in a present unsatisfying relationship or lack what could even be called a relationship.

• Many client problems are caused by their inability to connect, to get close to others, or to have a satisfying or successful relationship with at least one significant person in their life.

Glasser’s View on Mental Illness

Glasser (2003) maintained that clients should not be labeled with a diagnosis except when it is necessary for insurance purposes. From Glasser’s perspective, diagnoses are descriptions of the behaviors people choose in their attempt to deal with the pain and frustration that is endemic to their unsatisfying present relationships.

• He believed the term mental illness should be reserved for biological brain disorders like Alzheimer’s, epilepsy, or brain injuries.

Wubbolding’s View on Mental Illness

Softened this stance, saying therapists should still follow professional standards and can use diagnoses (like from the DSM-5) when appropriate.

The Five Basic Needs

William Glasser believed that all humans are born with five basic needs that drive everything we do:

1. Survival (self-preservation): the need for safety, health, and security.

2. Love and Belonging: the need for connection, affection, and relationships.

3. Power (inner control): the need for achievement, self-worth, and competence.

4. Freedom (independence): the need to make choices and have autonomy.

5. Fun (enjoyment): the need for pleasure, laughter, and learning.

• We all have these needs, but the strength of each one varies from person to person.

  • The most important need is love and belonging, because we depend on relationships to meet the other needs.

    • Satisfying this need is also the most difficult, since it requires another person’s cooperation.

• Choice theory is based on the premise that because we are by nature social creatures we need to both receive and give love.

Wubbolding adds a sixth need, inspired by Viktor Frankl:

• What is it?

6. Purpose and Meaning: the need to feel that our lives and actions matter.

• Because all behavior has a purpose, it seems that human beings have a need for meaning and purpose.

The Quality World

A mental “photo album”

• a collection of people, experiences, values, and things that we believe will satisfy our needs.

• We store information inside our mind and build a file of wants

• It is our personal Shangri-la—the world we would like to live in if we could

• In our quality world, we develop an inner picture album of specific wants as well as precise ways to satisfy these wants.

• This “inner world” is unique to each person and represents how we wish life could be.

  • For example, someone’s quality world might include being close to family, having a meaningful job, or feeling free to express themselves.

Total Behavior: The Four Components

Glasser explained that all behavior has four connected parts, which together make up what he called total behavior:

1. Acting – what we physically do (our actions).

2. Thinking – what we tell ourselves or believe.

3. Feeling – our emotions (like sadness, anger, or joy).

4. Physiology – how our body reacts (for example, tense muscles, headaches, increased heart rate).

These four parts are inseparable — when one changes, the others are affected too.

Purpose of Behavior

All behavior has a goal — it’s designed to close the gap between what we want and what we have.

Rethinking How We Describe Emotions

Glasser believed that saying “I am depressed” or “I have anxiety” makes it sound like something is happening to us — as if we have no control.

• He suggested using verbs instead, like:

  • “I am depressing,”

  • “I am headaching”

  • “I am angering,” or

  • “I am anxietying.”

Behavior as a Language

• Robert Wubbolding expanded Glasser’s ideas by explaining that behavior is a form of communication — a way we send messages to the world about our wants and needs.

  • Therapists help clients reflect on questions like:

    • What message are you sending with your behavior?”

    • “What message do you want others to receive?”

    • “What message might others actually be receiving?”

      • “What message do you want others to get?” “What message are others getting whether or not you intended to send it?”

The basic axiom of choice theory

The only person you can control is yourself

Meaningful activity

being involved in meaningful activities, such as work, is a good way to gain the respect of other people, and work can help clients fulfill their need for power. Can build self-worth and reduce destructive behavior.

Reject Transference

Therapists show up as their authentic selves — they do not act like a parent or past figure.

• Glasser contends that transference is a way that both therapist and client avoid being who they are and owning what they are doing right now.

  • Wubbolding claims that not all reality therapists would accept Glasser’s perspective on transference

Keep the Therapy in the Present

Glasser contends that whatever mistakes were made in the past are not pertinent now.

• An axiom of choice theory is that the past may have contributed to a current problem but that the past is never the problem.

Problems are solved by changing current behavior, not reliving

• Wubbolding contends that “history is not destiny.” The focus is on what clients are able and willing to do right now to change their behavior

  • However, Wubbolding states that past behaviors should be unpacked and reevaluated.

    • The American novelist William Faulkner famously said, “The past is never dead. In fact, it is not even past.”

Avoid Focusing on Symptoms

• Focusing on the past “protects” clients from facing the reality of unsatisfying present relationships, and focusing on symptoms does the same thing.

• Whether people are depressing or paining, they tend to think that what they are experiencing is happening to them. They are reluctant to accept the reality that their suffering is due to the total behavior they generate from within themselves.

• Symptoms can be viewed as the body’s way of warning them that the behavior they are generating is not satisfying their basic needs.

Views of Mental Illness

Choice theory rejects the traditional notion that people with problematic physical and psychological symptoms are mentally ill.

• Wubbolding takes a firm stand on using the DSM-5 in creative ways and adhering to standard practice, which includes diagnosing mental disorders

  • He incorporates the Ericksonian principle that “people don’t have problems, they have solutions that have not worked.”

• Glasser, however, has warned people to be cautious of psychiatry, which can be hazardous to both one’s physical and mental health. He criticizes the traditional psychiatric establishment for relying heavily on the DSM-5 for both diagnosis and treatment.

Reality Therapy helps clients:

• take responsibility

• focus on the present

• build healthy relationships

• choose more effective behaviors

• rethink symptoms as responses to unmet needs

The “Cycle of Counseling”

According to Wubbolding, therapy has two major components:

1. Creating the counseling environment

• Build a positive, supportive relationship

• Help the client feel safe, respected, and understood

2. Implementing specific procedures that lead to changes in behavior

• Assist clients in evaluating their current behavior

• Help them choose more effective actions

The counselor blends these two parts constantly, not in a strict step-by-step order.

The WDEP System

Wubbolding developed the WDEP model to help counselors apply reality therapy:

W – Wants: What do you want?

D – Doing: What are you doing to get it?

E – Evaluation: Is what you're doing working?

P – Planning: What will you do differently?

• This framework organizes the practical counseling techniques.

Reality therapy is based on two main motivations for change:

1. When we are convinced that our present behavior is not meeting our needs

2. When we believe we can choose other behaviors that will get us closer to what we want.

Locus of Control

Wubbolding has incorporated the contribution of Julian Rotter who suggests that clients discuss their perceived locus of control with the therapist.

• Clients explore whether they believe:

  • Control comes from outside → others, past, circumstances (external locus of control)

  • Or inside → their own choices and actions (internal locus of control)

Do clients feel oppressed and diminished by other people, their external circumstances, or even by their history?

Reality therapy helps them move toward greater internal control.

Using Choice Theory

• Therapists apply the core parts of choice theory:

Basic needs → What needs drive the client?

Quality world → What do they care about most?

Total behavior → Actions, thoughts, feelings, and physiology

SAMIC³

Reality therapy weaves together two components:

1. The counseling environment

2. Specific procedures (like WDEP) that lead to changes in behavior

The goals of reality therapy

• Behavioral change

• Better decision making

• Improved significant relationships

• Enhanced living

• More effective satisfaction of all the psychological needs

What is the emphasis on?

Personal responsibility

• We often mistakenly choose misery in our best attempt to meet our needs.

  • Symptoms are the result of choices we’ve made.

    • We can choose to think, feel, and behave differently.

      • Reality therapy is based on Choice Theory.

Choice Theory Explanation of Behavior

• Doing

active behaviors

Choice Theory Explanation of Behavior

• Thinking

thoughts, self-statements

Choice Theory Explanation of Behavior

• Feelings

anger, joy, anxiety

Choice Theory Explanation of Behavior

• Physiology

bodily reactions

Characteristics of Reality Therapists

• Emphasize choice and responsibility

• Reject transference

• Keep the therapy in the present

• Avoid focusing on symptoms

• Challenge traditional views of mental illness

  • You are in misery, but your misery is your chocie. You choose this misery, this feeling, to meet your needs.

Therapeutic Goals

• Primary goal to help clients get connected or reconnected with the people they have chosen to put in their quality world.

• Help clients learn better ways to”

  • fulfill needs, including achievement

  • power or inner control

  • freedom or independence

  • and fun

    • They will ask “is this working, meeting your needs, if not, what can you do differently”

The Practice of Reality Therapy

• Following are the two major components:

1. Creating the counseling environment

• Supportive, challenging, and noncoercive

2. Implementing specific procedures that lead to changes in behavior

• WDEP

The “WDEP” System

• Following are the procedures that lead to change:

• W Wants, Needs, and Perceptions—What do you want to be and do?

• D Direction and Doing—What are you doing? Where do you want to go?

• E Self-Evaluation—Does your present behavior have a reasonable chance of getting you what you want?

• P Planning—“SAMIC3”

Wubbolding uses the acronym SAMIC to capture the essence of a good plan.

• What is SAMIC3

• S Simple

• A Attainable

• M Measurable

• I Immediate and involved

• C Controlled by the planner, committed to, and consistently done

Case Example: Jordan

• Client: Jordan, a 25-year-old graduate student

• Presenting Issue: Procrastination and anxiety about academic performance

• Wants (W): To feel more in control, finish assignments on time, and reduce stress

• Doing (D): Avoids studying, scrolls social media, and stays up late worrying

• Evaluation (E): Realizes current behavior isn’t helping success

• Planning (P): Develops SAMIC³ plan

S Simple

A Attainable

M Measurable

I Immediate and Involved

C Controlled by the planner, Committed to, and Consistently done

Jordan’s SAMIC³ Plan

• Simple: I will spend 30 minutes each morning working on my thesis before checking my phone.

• Attainable: 30 minutes is manageable and fits my current schedule.

• Measurable: I’ll track my progress by logging the date and duration of each work session.

• Immediate: I’ll start tomorrow morning at 8:00 a.m.

• Controlled by the client: I’m responsible for setting my alarm and starting work.

• Committed to: I agree to do this for five days and review how it feels at the end of the week.

• Continuous: If successful, I’ll increase to 45 minutes and maintain the habit.

Application to Group Counseling

• Group provides opportunities for exploring ways to meet their needs.

• Members explore new courses of behavior that will bring them closer to getting what they want out of life.

• Leaders challenge members to evaluate for themselves if what they are currently doing is working for them.

• Feedback from the leaders and members can help individuals design realistic and attainable plans.

• Considerable time is devoted during the group sessions for developing and implementing plans.

• Group setting encourages members to take an active stance in shaping their own destiny.

Strengths From a Diversity Perspective

• Therapists demonstrate their respect for their clients’ cultural values by helping them explore how satisfying their current behavior is to themselves and others.

  • Not exploring feelings like the other therapies, rather what you think and how you act

• It is a sign of respect that the reality therapist refrains from deciding what behaviors should be changed.

• With a focus on thinking and acting rather than on exploring feelings, many clients are less likely to display resistance.

• The principles underlying choice theory are universal, which makes choice theory applicable to all people.

• Reality therapy is an open system that allows for flexibility in application based on the needs of culturally diverse individuals.

• Principles and concepts can be incorporated in a dynamic and personal, and there is a basis for integrating these concepts with most of the other therapeutic approaches.

Shortcomings From a Diversity Perspective

• Reality therapy gives only limited attention to helping people address environmental and social problems.

• Some reality therapists may not pay enough attention to systemic and environmental factors that can limit the potential for choice.

• Some clients are very reluctant to directly verbally express what they need.

  • Ex. Left family to get freedom, but lose on love and belonging

  • Helps clients conditionize

Contributions of Choice Theory/Reality Therapy

• RT has a relatively short-term focus and deals with conscious behavioral problems.

• The existential underpinnings of choice theory are a major strength of this approach, which accentuates taking responsibility for what we are doing.

  • The five universal needs of being human are the existential underpinnings

• With the emphasis on responsibility and choice, individuals can acquire a sense of self-direction and empowerment.

• RT can be effectively used with individuals who manifest reluctance and ambivalence to change.

• RT has been effectively used in addiction treatment and recovery programs for over 30 years.

Limitations and Criticisms of Reality Therapy

• Some feel RT does not give adequate emphasis to psychological concepts such as insight, the unconscious, dreams, and transference.

• More empirical support of RT is needed.

• Recall, report, share, and relive the dreams can pave the way for clients to take a different course of action

  • Not using other theories is the limitation

• Some therapists may impose personal views on clients by deciding for them what constitutes responsible behavior. (a limitation for all kinds of therapy)

• RT appear to be easy to implement.

• Effective practice of reality therapy requires practice, supervision, and continuous learning.