Created by Dr. William Glasser, reality therapy and its theoretical underpinning of choice theory provide a wonderful lens through which to help clients evaluate their needs. Individuals are thought to have five basic needs that their behaviors seek to satisfy in order for them to be happy and fulfilled. These are: survival or self-preservation; love and belonging; achievement; independence or freedom; and fun. All behavior is believed to be an attempt to meet these needs—even when the behavior is unhealthy or harmful (Glasser).

Having children and adults evaluate their needs has multiple benefits. It immediately shows the therapist or counselor what is in abundance in these five areas of the client’s world and what is lacking. It provokes client awareness and a highly relevant dialogue, and is empowering for clients in that it helps them to see they are usually the catalyst of any hoped-for change.

In working with children, I utilize a graphing utility, designed by Arlin Peterson, called Pete’s Pathogram (Peterson). The five basic needs are depicted on the “X” axis, and the “Y” axis shows the degree to which the need is being met with a range from 0 (not met) to 10 (totally met). Children “score” their needs with me on the paper graph. Inner-city schoolchildren will often score themselves with a 3 or 4 on the “survival” need.

When asked a series of question that seek to provoke self-reflection, a conversation will usually ensue about the dangerous neighborhood in which they live, fears of gangs, shootings, violence in the home, and sometimes shortages of food. Counselor/therapist and children can process these very real fears and discuss if there is a way to improve the degree to which a need is being met. For instance, asking a child why that score is low and what it would take to make that survival need score a 5 might encourage a conversation about a move to a different neighborhood, their being alone less frequently in the home, providing them an additional meal at school, or having their parents come in for counseling. One by one, clients score each need.

Utilization of this exercise provides an opportunity for immediate insight into the client’s life at a profound level. As counselor/therapist and client reflect on the degree to which a need is being met, the balance or imbalance of the five basic needs in the client’s life becomes apparent. This exercise works extremely well with adults also. The workaholic will score himself/herself a 10 on the achievement need, but he or she will most likely rate low for love and belonging, fun, and freedom.

The evaluative, self-reflective, and internalizing elements of this exercise are extremely rich, in my opinion. Clients are supported to identify ways they can create change for the better. As with the creation of one’s quality world through the use of pictures and words (explained in my first blog), the client’s active role in examining the five basic needs with the therapist can rapidly provide rich content with which to work.

References:

1. Peterson, Arlin V. (2008). Pete’s Pathogram. Action Printing, U.S.
2. Glasser, William (1998). Choice Theory. A New Psychology of Personal Freedom. HarperCollins Publishers, Inc., N.Y.

At the heart of this therapeutic approach is a focus on human connection, since the underlying theory in reality therapy posits that human relationships are the most vital of the five basic needs we must satisfy to be happy and fulfilled. The remaining four needs include: survival or self preservation, achievement, independence or freedom, and fun.

This approach is founded on the belief that individuals choose many of their behaviors in order to satisfy these needs, which are innate. Therapy provides the opportunity for an exploration of the degree to which a person in therapy’s needs are being met.

A problematic relationship, past or present, is thought to be the major source of a person’s presenting problems. The relationship could be one of many—for example, with one’s significant other, sibling, parent, child, friend, teacher, colleague, or boss. The goal of reality therapy is to support people in identifying the problematic relationship, assist them to evaluate how their behavior may be helping or hurting, and to give them tools to reconnect in a healthy way.

As a school counselor and therapist, I utilize reality therapy concepts both with adults and children and find them exceptionally useful in gathering immediate, vital data about the person. I especially like that reality therapy has an artistic/drawing component that helps people feel less threatened and more able to access and evaluate behaviors and emotions than might be possible using a traditional therapeutic approach.

Discovering One’s ‘Quality World’

Exploration of the person’s quality world provides both clinician and person in therapy valuable information. One’s quality world is unique to each person and is essentially that place inside us that holds a vision (pictures) of all that is most important to us. Among many, the pictures may include our homes, special people, places we hope to visit, hobbies and interests, our religious or spiritual practices. Quality world pictures depict present circumstances and dreams for the future. Quality world pictures may reflect things we presently possess or long for in the future; other pictures may indicate what we have relinquished hope of manifesting (the adult who always wanted to play the violin, go to Paris, learn a language, or have a baby; or the child who wished he could be a better student but has given up).

I have never found an adult or child who was not eager to depict their quality world when invited to do so. I generally describe the quality world as I have above, and I give a few examples of the pictures in my own to help people understand what I am asking of them. The simplest way is for people to use a piece of paper and either draw symbols to represent a specific want, or write a word that represents it. I encourage them to be as creative as they’d like. There is no wrong way to do the exercise.

Living One’s Quality World

In as little as 10 or 15 minutes, the counselor or therapist can learn the most important and desired aspects of the person’s inner world. The counselor or therapist also learns what the person is lacking—for example, the child whose quality world depicts no friends, or no parents. People are invited to talk about their words and symbolic representations and this provokes a rich dialogue and the beginning of a close connection between person in therapy and clinician. It also helps people to reflect on and appreciate what they have, as well as to evaluate their goals, the probability of their success, and the action they are taking to attain them.

What impresses me most about reality therapy is that it is an effective and collaborate approach for multiple environments (schools, businesses, counseling, and therapy). Some of my child clients even go home and use reality therapy concepts they learn with me on mom and dad. It helps people to be accountable and teaches them skills that are empowering and easy to share with others.