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ABSTRACT
Over twenty years ago, Mary Ballou addressed the relationship between Reality Therapy and Feminist Therapy. In her original article, she found Reality Therapy lacking in its development as a viable approach for Feminist Therapy. This treatise will readdress Ballou's concerns from a pro-feminist perspective. It will discuss the major tenets of Feminist Therapy and confront the fact that Reality Therapy has still not developed towards a feminist perspective as Ballou had hoped. It suggests that the incorporation of critical self-examination for the purpose of identifying and dealing with one's hermeneutical perspective is consistent with Reality Therapy, as a way that directs therapists and clients towards a feminist perspective.
It has been over twenty years since Professor Mary Ballou wrote her article "Thoughts on Reality Therapy from a Feminist" (1984). In the article, she addressed what she considered to be the "aspects of Reality Therapy (R.T.) which are inconsistent with a Feminist's orientation to therapy" (p. 28). She did this in the hope that Reality Therapy would eventually develop as a therapeutic approach and incorporate a feminist consciousness. The question after twenty plus years is whether or not this has occurred, or, in other words, has William Glasser developed and incorporated a feminist consciousness into Reality Therapy since Ballou's article appeared? It appears that the short answer is a resounding no. There is no evidence that Glasser has made any overt attempt to incorporate a feminist consciousness into Reality Therapy. What is evident is that Glasser's direction has been in the advancement of the approach itself; he has primarily been working in the identification and development of the theoretical basis of Reality Therapy known as Choice Theory (Glasser, 1998).
The next question is whether or not there have been improvements or movement towards a feminist perspective with those who utilize Reality Therapy as a therapeutic approach over the last twenty years? In some ways there have been, but not necessarily due to any adjustments to Reality Therapy; the improvements have come about primarily through the efforts of the incorporation of multi-cultural instruction within the fields of psychology, social work and counseling, over all. Therapists who utilize Reality Therapy from a feminist or pro-feminist perspective do so primarily because of the beliefs that they...