William Glasser Developed His Theory of Reality

William Glasser developed his theory of Reality Therapy in the early 1960s. He is best known for his book Reality Therapy: A New Approach to Psychiatry (1965), and for founding the Institute for Reality Therapy, which is now called The William Glasser Institute. He has also developed supplements to reality therapy in the form of choice theory and control theory, which are all now aligned under the heading "new reality therapy" (Corey, 2009, p. 315).

Reality Therapy has its roots in Adlerian Therapy. Both of these models place a strong focus on the interactions of people with others, and the development of relationships. While these theories overlap in terms of the interaction/relationship focus, they also complement each other in the sense that Alderian therapy centers mostly on how the client interprets events, whereas Reality Therapy is more concerned with how the client attempts to control events (Corey, 2009).

At its core, Reality Therapy is based on the premise that people can control the choices they make, and the relationships they choose to be in, by facing the reality of the human condition. At the core of reality therapy is the concept of responsibility. Reality therapists encourage their clients to take responsibility for their own choices and actions, instead of trying to blame things that happened in their past. It is therefore a complete break from Freud's theories of psychoanalysis. Reality therapists strive to keep their patients focused on the present and help them build healthy relationships because, in Glasser's view, unsatisfying relationships are at the root of most clients' problems.

As part of the behavioral school of psychology, actions play a much larger role in Reality Therapy than emotions and unresolved conflicts. It is a highly practical approach that encourages clients to make changes in the here and now, because that is the only thing that they can logically control. They cannot change the past and they cannot predict the future. So, from Glasser's perspective, choosing to make changes and take responsibility for one's behavior in the present is the key to overcoming psychological dysfunction and leading a happy, productive life. As is stated by Murdock, "RT theory places people firmly in the driver's seat -- they choose their own behaviors" (p. 256).

Reality Therapy is a behavioral model that rejects psychoanalytic premises and minimizes the significance of past contributors to present states. It is considered to be a didactic/directive model, because therapy focuses on re-educating the person toward having more rational thoughts and, in turn, making more rational behavioral choices. The goal is to teach clients that they have a moral duty to take responsibility for their actions because their choices not only affect themselves, but also other people. As such, Glasser (1965) describes the term responsibility as "the ability to fulfill one's needs, and to do so in a way that does not deprive others of the ability to fulfill their needs" (p. 15)

The goal in Reality Therapy, according to Glasser, is not only to help the client choose responsible behaviors, but also to help him reject irresponsible behaviors. Irresponsible behaviors are those that do harm to oneself and/or others. Glasser believes that there is no need to classify patients as neurotic or clinically depressed or schizophrenic, because all of these disorders essentially boil down to the premise of irresponsibility (Murdock, 2004).

Glasser also submits that in order for people to change their behaviors, they must first become moral judges of their behaviors. This means taking a step back and viewing themselves and their choices as others would. By seeing and evaluating their behaviors from outside of themselves as if they were judging a stranger, they are able to rid themselves of the excuses and justifications that have shaped their decisions. They are then better able to separate "wrong" from "right" and apply what they have learned to their own lives. As Glasser (1965) explains, "we emphasize the morality of behavior. We face the issue of right and wrong which we believe solidifies the involvement, in contrast to conventional psychiatrists who do not make the distinction between right and wrong, feeling that it would be detrimental to attaining the transference relationship they seek" (p. 54).