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Abstract
The aim of this journal article is to conduct an overview of Choice Theory and Reality Therapy. It examines the theory's primary concepts, view of human nature, and the cause of psychopathology. It also looks at clinical approaches and evaluation strategies. It examines the nature of CT/RT's theoretical origins and methodology, an exploration of therapist-client relationship conducted and expanded in the form of 'Quality Counseling.'
Introduction
The first counseling approaches focused on the inner and sexual life of clients. These orientations, namely the psychoanalytic or Freudian traditions, examined past history and early childhood experiences. They explored and discovered unconscious and repressed material, then allowed clients to relive them. They sought to expose defense mechanisms and impart clients with life-changing insights. This school of thought, however, touted a dark view of human nature. The psychoanalysts viewed humans as automatons, shambling forward in an unaware and hypnotic manner fashioned hopelessly by deterministic forces. Nearly every school of psychology that followed Freudianism railed in defiance to this bleak picture. As a result, many theorists remade the Freudian ideas by piecing them back together in a more optimistic and versatile manner; nevertheless, they maintained the purity and integrity of their own distinct ideas about human psychology.
Dr. William Glasser's Choice Theory/Reality Therapy represents one such idea. It arrived in the 1960's as "Reality Therapy, and then became associated with "Control Theory" in the 1980's." In June of 1996, Glasser changed the name of "Control Theory" to "Choice Theory;" the new name provided a more accurate description of its conceptual framework (Wubbolding, 2000). It also portrayed human nature under a new light. Whereas psychoanalysis pushed the deterministic perspective, Choice Theory maintained an opposing view. It acknowledged that humans possess free will and purpose. In teaching one client about Choice Theory's ideas concerning purpose and free will, Glasser said, "All anyone can do from birth to death is behave" (Glasser, 1998, p.71).
This implied that people control most aspects of mind and body. Glasser labeled this concept "Total Behavior." He elaborated - in a similar vein as Abraham Maslow - that all human behavior moves toward satisfaction of needs: survival, love and belonging, power, freedom, and fun (Wubbolding, 2000). He also said people construct a mental "Quality World."...