Reality –
A summarisation of the key aspects of Reality therapy. “Reality therapists believe the underlying problem of most clients is the same” (Gerald Corey 9th edition p.335) According to Corey (2013) few clients understand that their problems stem from the choices they make in relation to their behaviour. Just as Gerald Corey states we keep track in our mind what feels good, we then store that in our mind and use it to build our ‘quality world’ which is the base of our life, this is the world we would like to live in, our ‘quality worlds’ have very specific people, beliefs, possessions and situations that fulfil our needs.
As a result the key aspects needed for effective Reality therapy are as follows
Evaluating client’s relationships with respects to what they want and how effective they are in getting this.
Help people become more effective at meeting all of their psychological needs. Assumes we need quality relationships to be happy.
Find out what clients want, ask what they are choosing to do, invite to evaluate present behaviour, help make plans for change and get them to make a commitment.
Enable clients to reconnect with people they have chosen to put into their quality worlds and teach clients choice therapy.
This particular modality is able to be used in various settings such as, counselling, education, crisis intervention, rehabilitation. As an example “Many of the military clinics that treat substance abusers use reality therapy as their preferred therapeutic approach” (Corey. Theory and practice of counselling and
Psychotherapy. 9th edition p336)
An example that shows the benefits of Reality therapy is its application with regards to multiculturalism, by helping the client explore their current behaviours in themselves and others the counselling is then able to assist the client in coming up with a plan that meets their cultural values. Because the counsellor doesn’t decide the clients choices but focuses on thinking and acting...