502 BR - Specific Information and Criteria

Who is William Glasser: - http://www.wglasser.com/

Dr. Glasser is an internationally recognized psychiatrist who is best known as the author of Reality Therapy, a method of psychotherapy he created in 1965 and that is now taught all over the world. His approach is non-traditional. He does not believe in the concept of mental illness unless there is something organically wrong with the brain that can be confirmed by a pathologist.

Very early he came to the conclusion that genetically, we are social creatures and need each other. However, the cause of almost all psychological symptoms is our inability to get along with the important people in our lives. By 1980, he began to form the final idea that led to Choice Theory: The reason why so many people are unhappy in their relationships. He explains that, unlike all other living creatures, only human beings are genetically driven by the need for power. Only we have learned "I'm right and you're wrong". We try to satisfy our need for power by using what he calls, external control psychology – literally trying to force people to do what we want them to do. This struggle has led to the symptoms described in the DSM-IV and many more, such as pain and fatigue.

If we can't figure out how to learn to satisfy our power need by respecting each other, our days on earth are numbered. Dr. Glasser offers choice theory to replace external control and has dedicated the remainder of his life to teaching and supporting this idea. In 1967, he founded the Institute for Reality Therapy. Since that time, over 60,000 people worldwide have taken intensive week training in his ideas. In Corning, New York, work has been underway since 1997 to teach these concepts to a whole community.

Other books by William Glasser:

What is the Choice Theory:

William Glasser, PhD. author of choice theory states that all human behavior is aimed at satisfying our most basic needs for:

Our Total Behavior can be divided into 4 interrelated components: actions, thoughts, feelings and physiological responses. When we encounter something we first experience it through our senses and then process the information by running it past everything we know, have learned and experienced in the past. We then compare this information against our ideals, how we really want things to be (eg. the perfect family - Love Need; the ideal vacation - Freedom Need; the highest accolades - Power Need; the funniest joke - Fun Need) and place a value on this encounter. "Is it good or is it bad? Is it a threat or has it a payoff?" The closer this encounter is to our ideal picture the less frustrated we become. The farther it is from our ideal picture the more frustration we feel and we then begin exercising our behavior to try to resolve the frustration. We can do this in an effective way and end up feeling less frustrated or we can do this in an ineffective way and end up feeling more frustrated.

Glasser suggests that a person ask themselves 4 basic questions:

1. What do I really want? (based upon the needs)

2. What am I doing to get what I want?

3. Is what I'm doing working now, or will it ever have a chance of working?

4. Do I need to make a new plan?

What I believed in Choice Theory:

What happened in the past that was painful has a great deal to do with what we are today, but revisiting this painful past can contribute little or nothing to what we need to do now; improve an important, present relationship. Here we have a chance to free ourselves of the idea that it is important to know our past before we can deal with our present. It is good to revisit the parts of our past that were satisfying but leave what was unhappy alone. Most of the time we actually know what happened, but sometimes, if it was very traumatic, our creative systems have stepped in and erased those miserable memories. The argument that if we don't know our past, we are doomed to repeat it is incorrect. Our task is to do what we can to correct our present relationship. We are not doomed to repeat our past unless we choose to do so. Using choice theory we can correct our present unsatisfying relationships with behaviors that are satisfying to both parties. If we believe that we cannot function in the present until we understand our past, then have chosen to be the prisoners of what is over.