William Glasser was born in 1925 in Cleveland, Ohio. He was educated at Case Western Reserve University where he received an M.D. in 1953 in Clinical Psychology. He has written seventeen books, all published by Harper Collins. His top selling book, Reality Therapy, was published in 1965. For most of his career he practiced psychiatry in West Los Angeles, where he formulated and developed his counseling methods . He founded The Institute for Reality Therapy in 1967, which is now called The William Glasser Institute. Through this institute, more than 45,000 people have received intensive training in Reality Therapy. In 1996, Glasser re-named his theory “Choice Theory” which he describes as “a new psychology aimed at replacing the present psychology of the world which calls external control psychology”. Dr. Glasser is now writing, lecturing and intensively training people in his ideas. He is married and has three children. Further information about William Glasser and his institute can be found at the institute’s web site: www.wglasserinst.com.

Glasser clearly states the purpose of the book in his Introduction: “This book will describe Reality Therapy, explain in detail how it differs from conventional psychiatry, and show its successful application to the treatment of juvenile delinquents, chronic mental hospital patients, private psychiatric patients, and disturbed children in the school classroom (page 3)”

Method of the Book:

The book is clearly laid out and flows from Glasser’s purpose statement. The book in its paperback form is 209 pages long. Dr. Glasser explains the basic concepts of Reality Therapy in the first fifty pages. In the next 50 pages he compares his Reality Therapy to conventional therapy. These two portions are grouped together as Part I. In Part II, Dr. Glasser describes how Reality Therapy has been successful in real life situations. He includes case studies in which Reality Therapy was applied as treatment to help delinquent adolescent girls, psychotic patients, public school students, and patients in an office practice. His case studies are set apart with separate headings and include several letters written by patients.

Dr. Glasser writes in the first person plural, as in “we believe that this can …” and “our basic job is to…” He includes two numbered lists: one list of six to outline conventional Freudian counseling, and a second list of six to contrast his own Reality Therapy

William Glasser has truly written a landmark book in the field of counseling and psychotherapy. My reaction to his book and ideas is mostly positive. I agree with his conclusion that traditional Freudian psychology is bankrupt and does not serve the best interest of patients. I agree that a counselor must become close, not remain aloof, for treatment to be effective. I also agree that providing insight into a problem is not the same as solving a problem. Where Dr. Glasser asks the patient “what is your plan to become a responsible person and to behave morally?” traditional psychology treats patients as mentally ill incompetents who have no responsibility for their own behavior and who act out of unconscious motives. After reading his words, I also concur with his basic premise that what is best for the counselee is “to have a good relationship with a responsible person in order to fulfill his needs. (page 61)” and that counselees “must be confronted by the disparity between the values they recognize as the acceptable norm and the lives they lead. (page 72)”

I do think that Dr. Glasser is extreme on a few points. His assertion that mental illness does not exist (page 55) does not ring true with me. I believe that some people can suffer from a type of mental illness that encumbers their ability to choose responsibility over irresponsibility. I believe that some otherwise irresponsible people can change their behavior with the right drug regimen. Glasser overstates his case on this point, but maybe this blanket assertion is a sign of the time in which the book was written. Also, Dr. Glasser states that no therapy is possible until the patient admits to having a problem and desires to solve the problem (page 35). He seems to assume that most patients can clear this initial hurdle. I’m not so sure. It seems to me that some particularly self-centered individuals will never see the fault in themselves, but will always put the blame on others no matter how “real” the facts stare them in the face. Denial is powerful. I think that some people who indeed know the difference between right and wrong, consistently choose the wrong when it is in their own narrow interest to do so.

I think that Dr. Glasser met his purpose. In his work, he does outline a new and positive approach to helping the emotionally distressed. He attacks the whole concept of mental illness, going so far as to say that mental illness does not exist. He turns orthodox Freudian psychology on its head, insisting that Freud and his fellow bedfellows were wrong in all they taught.

Dr. Glasser contends that persons with emotional distress behave irresponsibly because they “deny the reality of the world around them”. He insists that patients be responsible that is, “acquire the ability to fulfill their needs and to do so in a way that does not deprive others of the ability to fulfill their needs”. Reality Therapy emphasizes moral values; not concerning itself not with a patient’s past, but with a patient’s present and future. Glasser did not exhaust the subject of Reality Therapy, after all he wrote 16 other books that relate to the subject. However, Reality Therapy is indeed a concise and effective primer on the subject of Reality Therapy.

I think that Reality Therapy is a good fit for Ministerial Counseling. Although not explicating Christian, the concepts underlying Reality Therapy reflect Christian teaching in at least three areas. First of all, Reality Therapy is a “moral therapy” in that it differentiates between “good” and “bad” behavior. Glasser says to do good to yourself and do good to others. This urging to morality stands in marked contrast to most other therapies which claim an aloof detachment from moral questions of right an wrong. Second, Reality Therapy concerns itself with love. Dr. Glasser says that psychology must be concerned with two basic psychological needs: “the need to love and to be loved and the need to feel that we are worthwhile to ourselves and to others” (page 10). This is not far from the biblical injunction: “Beloved, let us love one another. For God is of love and every that loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God for God is love … Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. (I John 4:7, 8, &11).” The hallmark of the Christian is love. Love seems to permeate

Glasser’s Therapy.

Third, Reality Therapy parallels the difficult Christian idea of “loving the sinner while hating the sin”. As Dr. Glasser states it “The ability of the therapist to get involved is the major skill of doing Reality Therapy (page 26)”. He further states that “Never condoning an irresponsible action on the patient’s part, he must be willing to watch the patient suffer if that helps him toward responsibility (page 27)” To sum up, Glasser echoes the entreaty of Jesus to the woman taken in adultery (John 8:2-11) by stating “..the therapist must reject the behavior that is unrealistic but still accept the patient and maintain his involvement with him (page 25)”. I can see how Reality Therapy might influence the counseling technique of any Christian counselor. I believe that reading Glasser has already influenced my view of Christian counseling. Perhaps Glasser has influenced the professor of E1114 as well.