Mar 31 2012
Choose to Get What You Need
Ok, so for the last couple of weeks I’ve been completely in love with Dr. William Glasser’s book entitled Take Charge of Your Life: How to Get What You Need with Choice Theory Psychology (2011). The front cover contains this quote by Dr. Phil McGraw (yes, Dr. Phil); “This book is a ‘game changer’ for anyone ready to become the Captain of their own ship. Going far beyond theory and philosophy this powerful book is a hands-on guide to creating, rather than just observing one’s life. A must read and more than once.” Well, now that I’ve quoted Dr. Phil (please forgive me Dr. Phil haters), I may as well go ahead and tell you that Choice Theory is the guiding principle behind Reality Therapy-which is what Dr. Phil ostensibly does on his show (although mostly I think what Dr. Phil does is “Reality Theatre”).
True Reality Therapy consists of the therapist asking four important questions: 1) What do you want? 2) What are you doing? 3) Is it working? 4) What else can you do? By asking these four questions the therapist is conducting an “investigation” into whether or not (or to what degree) the client is getting his/her needs met. Together, they may find that his/her current behavior is ineffective or inappropriate, resulting in unwanted consequences. That’s where Choice Theory comes in to play: Dr. Glasser believes that we all choose how to behave at any given moment, and therefore we are able to choose alternate behaviors that will result in greater life satisfaction.
As Dr. Glasser (2011) states:
