William Glasser
Founder of choice theory, the essence of reality therapy, now taught all over the world, is that we are all responsible for what we choose to do.
Robert Wubbolding
(1) Director of the Center for Reality Therapy
(2) Extended the theory and practice of reality therapy with his conceptualization of the WDEP system.
The difference between Choice Theory and Reality Therapy?
(1) Reality Therapy is a term used to describe the counselor and client's work together; Choice Theory is the theoretical construct which guides such work. It is a belief system based on an integration of psychology, behavior, systems, and genetics. I usu
What are the five needs addressed in Choice Theory?
(1) The need to survive
(2) The need to belong
(3) The need to gain power
(4) The need to be free
(5) The need to have fun
Quality world
1. Choice therapy teaches that we do not satisfy our needs directly. What we do, beginning shortly after birth and continuing all our lives, is to keep close track of anything we do that feels very good. We store information inside our minds and build a f
Picture album
1. We develop an inner picture album of specific wants as well as precise ways to satisfy these wants.
2. We are attempting to behave in a way that gives us the most effective control over our lies
3. Some pictures may be blurred, and the therapist's role
Total behavior
(1) Teaches that all behavior is made up of four inseparable but distinct components�acting, thinking, feeling, and physiology�that necessarily accompany all of our actions, thoughts, and feelings.
What are the four components of total behavior?
(1) acting,
(2) thinking,
(3) feeling, and
(4) physiology
Why does Choice Theory use verbs (e.g., angering) instead of nouns (e.g., anger)?
(1) Glasser says that to speak of being depressed, having a headache, being angry, or being anxious implies passivity and lack of personal responsibility, and it is inaccurate.
(2) It is more accurate to think of these as parts of total behaviors and to u
How is contemporary RT more relationally focused than in the past?
(1) Focuses on the authentic encounter between therapist and client
(2) Therapy relationship as a key factor in treatment success
(3) Relationship characterized by kindness, connection, and a genuine desire to help the client combined with teaching choice
What are the key underlying characteristics of reality therapy?
(1) Emphasize choice and responsibility
(2) Reject transference
(3) Keep the therapy in the present
(4) Avoid focusing on symptoms
(5) Challenge traditional views of mental illness
What are the goals of RT?
(1) A primary goal of contemporary reality therapy is to help clients get connected or reconnected with the people they have chosen to put in their quality world (To help people become more effective in meeting all of their psychological needs)
(2) In add
What are characteristics and behaviors of a reality therapist?
(1) Therapy is often considered as a mentoring process in which the therapist is the teacher and the client is the student.
(2) Reality therapists teach clients how to engage in self-evaluation, which is done by raising the question, "Is what you are choo
(CONT.) What are characteristics and behaviors of a reality therapist?
The therapeutic relationship:
(1) A fundamental task is for the therapist to create a good relationship with the client.
(2) Therapists are then able to engage clients in an evaluation of all their relationships with respect to what they want and how effe
What are the clients' responsibilities in the process of RT?
(1) Clients are not expected to backtrack into the past or get sidetracked into talking about symptoms.
(2) Neither will much time be spent talking about feelings.
(3) They can expect to begin to use what they are taught in their life.
What is meant by "the cycle of counseling"?
(1) The practice of reality therapy can best be conceptualized as the cycle of counseling, which consists of two major components
(a) Creating the counseling environment
(b) Implementing specific procedures that lead to changes in behavior.
What is the WDEP System?
(1) The WDEP System assists people in satisfying their basic needs.
(2) Each of the letters refers to a cluster of strategies:
(a) W = wants, needs and perceptions
(b) D = direction and doing
(c) E = self-evaluation
(d) P = planning
What occurs in the WANTING phase of the WDEP process?
WANTING - exploring client's wants and perceptions (i.e., what they want from the world around them and how hard they are willing to work to satisfy their wants). Also, examine how they perceive themselves in the world as well as what they can control and
What occurs in the DOING phase of the WDEP process?
DOING - the counselor helps clients describe their choices, their self-talk (e.g., "even though my choices are ineffective, I'll continue to do the same thing"), and their feelings such as hurt, fear, anger, depression, and many others.
What occurs in the EVALUATING phase of the WDEP process?
EVALUATING - Self-evaluation (the cornerstone in the practice of Reality Therapy)
(1) Self-evaluation questions:
(a) Is what you're doing helping or hurting?
(b) Is what you want realistically attainable?
(c) Does your self-talk help or impede need satisf
What occurs in the PLANNING phase of the WDEP process?
PLANNING - Much of the significant work of the counseling process involves helping clients identify specific ways to fulfill their wants and needs.
a) Once clients determine what they want to change, they are generally ready to explore other possible beha
What are key strengths of RT from a multicultural perspective?
(1) Focus is on clients making their own evaluation of behavior (including how they respond to their culture).
(2) Through personal assessment clients can determine the degree to which their needs and wants are being satisfied.
(3) The can find a balance
What are key shortcomings of RT from a multicultural perspective
(1) This approach stresses taking charge of one's own life, yet some clients are more interested in changing their external environment.
(2) Counselor needs to appreciate the role of discrimination and racism and help clients deal with social and politica
What are the overall key contributions of RT?
(1) This is a positive approach with an action orientation that relies on simple and clear concepts that are easily grasped in many helping professions.
(2) It can be used by teachers, nurses, ministers, educators, social workers, and counselors.
(3) Due
What are the overall key limitations of RT?
(1) This approach stresses taking charge of one's own life, yet some clients are more interested in changing their external environment.
(2) Counselor needs to appreciate the role of discrimination and racism and help clients deal with social and politica
Who are the main influences/developers of contemporary FT?
Jean Baker Miller
Carolyn Zerbe Enns
Olivia M. Espin
iv) Laura S. Brown
Jean Baker Miller
Dr. Miller collaborated with diverse groups of scholars and colleagues on the development of relational-cultural theory. She made important contributions toward expanding this theory and exploring new applications to complex issues in psychotherapy and be
Carolyn Zerbe Enns
Her most recent efforts are directed toward articulating the importance of multicultural feminist therapy, exploring the practice of feminist therapy around the world (especially in Japan), and writing about multicultural feminist pedagogies.
Olivia M. Espin
specializes in counseling and therapy with women from different cultures and Latin American Studies. She is a pioneer in the theory and practice of feminist therapy with women from different cultural backgrounds and has done extensive research, teaching,
Laura S. Brown
a founding member of the feminist Therapy Institute. Dr. Brown has made particular contributions to thinking about ethics and boundaries, and the complexities of ethical practice in small communities. Her current interests include feminist forensic psycho
What are the main differences between the second and third waves of feminism?
(1) Second wave of feminism is identified by four enduring feminist philosophies: liberal, cultural, radical, and socialist feminism.
(2) Third wave feminism embraces diversity with its inclusion of women of color, lesbians, and the postmodern and constru
How does feminist theory differ from traditional theories in regard to human nature and personality development?
(1) Human Nature - Many of the traditional theories grew out of a historical period in which social arrangements were assumed to be rooted in one's biologically based gender. Men were assumed to be the norm and were the only group studied or understood wi
What is relational-cultural theory?
(1) The founding scholars of relational cultural theory suggest that a woman's sense of identity ad self-concept develop in the context of relationships.
(2) According to Bern, men, as the dominant group, define and determine the roles that women play. Be
What are the six core principles of FT according to your text? Differentiate between each.
(1) The personal is political
(2) Commitment to a social change
(3) Women's and girl's voices and ways of knowing are valued and their experiences are honored
(4) The counseling relationship is egalitarian
(5) A focus on strengths and a reformulated defin
The personal is political
This principle is based upon the assumption that the personal or individual problems that individuals bring to counseling originate in a political and social context.
Commitment to a social change
Feminist therapy aims not only for individual change but for social change. The goal is to advocate a different vision of societal organization that frees both women and men from the constraints imposed by gender-role expectations.
Women's and girl's voices and ways of knowing are valued and their experiences are honored
Women's perspectives are considered central I understanding their distress. Traditional therapies that operate on androcentric norms compare women to the male norm and find them deviant.
The counseling relationship is egalitarian
Attention to power is central in feministic therapy. Feminist therapists recognize that there is a power imbalance in the therapeutic relationship, so they strive for an egalitarian relationship, keeping in mind that clients are the experts on their own l
A focus on strengths and a reformulated definition of psychological distress
Feminist therapy has a "conflicted and ambivalent relationship" with diagnostic labeling and the "disease models" of mental illness. Psychological distress is reframed, not as disease but as a communication about unjust systems. When contextual variables
All types of oppression are recognized
Clients can best be understood in the context of their sociocultural environments. Feminist therapists acknowledge that social and political inequalities have a negative effect on all people. Feminist therapists work to help individuals make changes in th
What are the goals of FT?
(1) Text:
(a) At the individual level, feminist therapist work to help females and males recognize claim, and embrace their personal power.
(b) Feminist therapists also work toward reinterpreting women's mental health. Their aim is to de-pathologize women
What are key characteristics and behaviors of a counselor using FT?
(1) The therapeutic relationship is based on empowerment and egalitarianism
(2) Therapists actively break down the hierarchy of power and reduce artificial barriers by engaging in appropriate self-disclosure and teaching clients about the therapy process
What is the role of the client in FT?
(1) Clients are active participants in the therapeutic process.
(2) Appropriate self-disclosure is affirmed within feminist therapy.
(3) Feminist therapists do not restrict their practice to female clients; the relationship is always a partnership.
(4) Th
How does FT view diagnosis?
(1) Feminist therapist have been sharply critical of the DSM classification system, and research indicates that gender, culture, and race may influence assessment of clients' symptoms.
(2) From the perspective of feminist therapy, diagnostic criteria were
Empowerment
(1) Enns and Byars-Winston point out that many of the strategies of multi-cultural feminist therapy are part of the general umbrella of empowerment, which enables people to see themselves as active agents on behalf of themselves and others.
(2) At the hea
gender-role analysis
A hallmark of feminist therapy, gender-role analysis explores the impact of gender-role expectations on the client's psychological well-being and draws upon this information to make decisions about future gender-role behaviors.
gender-role intervention
(1) Using this technique, the therapist responds to the client's concern b placing it in the context of society's role expectations for women.
(2) The aim is to provide the client with insight into the ways social issues are affecting her.
(3) By placing
group work
(1) Groups share a common denominator emphasizing support for the experience of women.
(2) Groups can provide women with a social network, decrease feelings of isolation, create an environment that encourages sharing of experiences, and help women realize
power analysis
(1) Power analysis refers to the range of methods aimed at helping clients understand how unequal access to power and resources can influence personal realities.
(2) Together therapists and clients explore how inequities or institutional barriers often li
social action
(1) Social action, or social activism, is an essential quality of feminist therapy.
(2) As clients become more grounded in their understanding of feminism, therapist may suggest that clients become involved in activities such as volunteering at a rape cri
How might FT be useful for working with male clients?
(1) Feminist therapy can be practiced with male clients.
(2) The principles and practices of feminist psychotherapy are useful in working with male clients.
(3) Social mandates about masculinity such as restrictive emotionality, overvaluing power and cont
What are key strengths of FT from a multicultural perspective?
(1) Focus is on both individual change and social transformation.
(2) A key contribution is that both the women's movement and the multicultural movement have called attention to the negative impact of discrimination and oppression for both women, and men
What are key shortcomings of FT from a multicultural perspective?
(1) This model has been criticized for its bias toward the values of White, middle-class, heterosexual women, which are not applicable to many other groups of women nor to men.
(2) Therapists need to assess with their clients the price of making significa
What are key contributions of FT?
(1) The feminist perspective is responsible for encouraging increasing members of women to question gender stereotypes and to reject limited views of what a woman is expected to be.
(2) It is paving the way for gender-sensitive practice and bringing atten
What are key limitations of FT?
(1) A possible limitation is the potential for therapists to impose a new set of values on clients�such as striving for equality, power in relationships, defining oneself, freedom to pursue a career outside the home, and the right to an education.
(2) The
Who are some of the founders of contemporary postmodern therapies?
(1) Insoo Kim Berg
(2) Steve de Shazer
(3) Michael White
(4) David Epston
Insoo Kim Berg
co-developer of the solution-focused approach.
Steve de Shazer
one of the pioneers of solution-focused brief therapy
Michael White
cofounder with David Epston, of the narrative therapy movement
David Epston
one of the co-developers of narrative therapy
What are the main tenets of postmodern/social constructivism?
(1) Postmodernist, believe that realities do not exist independent of observational processes. Social constructionism is a psychological expression of this postmodern worldview; it values the client's reality without disputing whether it is accurate or ra
What is meant by a counselor taking a not-knowing position when working with clients?
(1) In the "not-knowing position", therapists still retain all of the knowledge and personal, experiential capacities they have gained over years of living, but they allow themselves to enter the conversation with curiosity and with an intense interest in
What is Solution-focused brief therapy (SFBT)?
(1) Solution-focused brief therapy is a future-focused, goal-oriented therapeutic approach to brief therapy developed initially by Steve de Shazar and Insoso Kim. SFBT emphasizes strengths and resiliencies of people by focusing on exception their problems
What are the goals of SFBT?
(1) The SFBT therapist believes people have the ability to define meaningful personal goals and that they have the resources required to solve their problems.
(2) Goals are unique to each client and are constructed by the client to create a richer future.
What are characteristics and behaviors of a counselor using SFBT?
(1) Much of what the therapeutic process is about involves clients' thinking about their future and what they want to be different in their lives.
(2) FBT therapists adopt a not-knowing position to put clients in the position of being the experts about th
What is the role of the counselor-client relationship SFBT?
(1) The quality of the relationship between therapist and client is a determining factor in the outcomes of SFBT, so relationship building or engagement is a basic step in SFBT.
(2) The therapeutic process works best when clients become actively involved,
Pre-therapy change
(1) Simply scheduling an appointment often sets positive change in motion.
(2) These changes cannot be attributed to the therapy process itself, so asking about them tends to encourage clients to rely less on their therapist and more on their own resource
The miracle question
(1) Therapy goals are developed by using what de Shazer calls the miracle question, which is a main SFBT technique.
(2) The therapist asks, "If a miracle happened and the problem you have was solved overnight, how would you know it was solved, and what wo
Scaling Questions
(1) Solution-focused therapists also use scaling questions when change in human experiences are not easily observed, such as feelings, moods, or communication, and to assist clients in noticing that they are not completely defeated by their problem.
(2) S
Formula First Session Task
(1) The formula first session task (FFST) is a form of homework a therapist might give clients to complete between their first and second sessions.
(2) The therapist might say, "Between now and the next time we meet, I would like you to observe, so that y
Therapist Feedback to clients
(1) Solution-focused practitioners generally take a break of 5-10 minutes toward the end of each session to compose a summary message for clients.
(2) During this break therapists formulate feedback that will be given to clients after the break.
(3) There
Terminating
1. From the very first solution-focused interview, the therapist is mindful of working toward termination.
2. Once clients are able to construct a satisfactory solution, the therapeutic relationship can be terminated.
3. The initial goal-formation questio
Application to Group Counseling
1. The solution-focused group practitioner believes that people are competent, and that given a climate where they can experience their competency, they are able to solve their own problems, enabling them to live a richer life.
2. From the beginning, the
What is narrative therapy (NT)?
(1) Individuals construct the meaning of life in interpretive stories, which are ten treated as "truth."
(2) Therapy is, in part, a reestablishment of personal agency from the oppression of external problems and the dominant stories of larger systems.
(3)
What are the goals of NT?
(1) A general goal of narrative therapy is to invite people to describe their experience in new and fresh language. In doing this, they open up new visas of what is possible.
(2) This new language enables clients to develop new meanings for problematic th
What are characteristics and behaviors of a counselor using NT? Pg. 412
(1) Narrative therapists are active facilitators
(2) The concepts of care, interest, respectful curiosity, openness, empathy, contact, and even fascination are seen as a relational necessity.
(3) The not-knowing position, which allows therapists to follow
What is the role of the counselor-client relationship NT?
(1) Narrative therapists place great importance on the values and ethical commitments a therapist brings to the therapy venture.
(2) Some of these attitudes include optimism and respect, curiosity and persistence, valuing the client's knowledge, and creat
Questions... and more questions -
(1) Narrative therapists use questions as a way to generate experience rather than to gather information.
(2) The aim of questioning is to progressively discover or construct the client's experience so that the client has a sense of a preferred direction.
Externalization and Deconstruction
(1) Narrative therapists believe it is not the person that is the problem, but the problem that is the problem.
(2) These problems are often products of the cultural world or of the power relations in which this world is located.
(3) Externalization is on
Search for Unique Outcomes
(1) In the narrative approach, externalizing questions are followed by questions searching for unique outcomes.
(2) The therapist talks to the client about moments of choice or success regarding the problem.
(3) This is done by selecting for attention any
Alternative stories and reauthoring
(1) The point in the narrative interview when clients make the choice of whether to continue to live by a problem-saturated story or create an alternative story.
(2) The therapist works with clients collaboratively by helping them construct more coherent
Documenting the evidence
(1) Narrative practitioners believe that new stories take hold only when there is an audience to appreciate and support them.
(2) One technique for consolidating the gains a client makes is by writing letters.
(3) The letter that the therapist writes prov
Application to Group Counseling
Many of the techniques described in this chapter can be applied to group counseling.
What are key strengths of NT from a multicultural perspective
(1) Social constructionism is congruent with the philosophy of multiculturalism.
(2) With the emphasis on multiple realities and the assumption that what is perceived to be a truth is the produce of social construction, the postmodern approaches are a foo
What are key shortcomings of NT from a multicultural perspective
(1) A potential shortcoming of the postmodern approaches pertains to the not-knowing stance the therapist assumes, along with the assumption of the client-as-expert.
(2) Individuals from many different cultural groups tend to elevate the professional as t
What are key contributions of NT?
(1) The optimistic orientation of the postmodern approaches that rest on the assumptions that people are competent and can be trusted to use their resources in creating better solutions and more life-affirming stories.
(2) The narrative approach to counse
What are key limitations of NT?
(1) McKenzie and Monk express their concerns over those counselors who attempt to employ narrative ideas in a mechanistic fashion.
(a) They caution that a risk in describing a map of a narrative orientation lies in the fat that some beginners will pay mor
What is meant by a family systems perspective?
(1) Family systems perspective = is that the client is connected to living systems.
(2) One central principle agreed upon by family therapy practitioners, regardless of their particular approach, is that the client is connected to living systems.
(3) Atte
How is this perspective different than one that focuses on the individual?
(1) Systemic therapists do not deny the importance of the individual in the family system, but they believe an individual's systemic affiliations and interactions have more power in the person's life than a single therapist could ever hope to have.
(2) By
What are the common themes that resonate across most family therapy approaches?
(1) The family as a whole is greater than the sum of its parts taken separately.
(a) The family maintains a collective identity that is different from the individual identities of each of its members.
(2) Why behavior occurs within the family is not the f
Know the key developers of the six family approaches in your text and be able to differentiate between the six approaches.
Alfred Adler
Murray Bowen
Virginia Satir
Carl Whitaker
Salvador Minuchin
Jay Haley and Cloe Madanes
Alfred Adler
first psychologist of the modern era to do family therapy using a systematic approach.
(1) Brought this concept to the US in the form of family education centers.
(2) Conducted family counseling sessions in an open public forum, educating parents and prof
Murray Bowen
one of the original developers of mainstream family therapy.
(1) He believed families could best be understood when analyzed from a three-generational perspective because patterns of interpersonal relationships connect family members across generations.
(
Virginia Satir
developed conjoint family therapy, a human validation process model that emphasizes communication and emotional experiencing.
(1) Like Bowen, she used an intergenerational model, but she worked to bring family patterns to life in the present through sculp
Carl Whitaker
is the creator of symbolic-experiential family therapy, a freewheeling, intuitive approach to helping families open channels of interaction.
(1) His goal was to facilitate individual autonomy while retaining a sense of belonging in the family.
(2) From Wh
Salvador Minuchin
began to develop structural family therapy in the 1960's through his work with delinquent boys from poor families at the Wiltwyck School in NY. He refined the theory and practice of structural family therapy.
(1) Focusing on the structure, or organization
Jay Haley and Cloe Madanes
founded the Washington School of strategic family therapy.
(1) Haley blended structural family therapy with the concepts of hierarchy, power, and strategic interventions.
(2) Madanes contributed to the development of a brief, solution-oriented therapy app
What is the content of a genogram?
(2) Most therapist start with a map of the family that comes to therapy.
(3) The parents are listed with their name, age, and date of birth in either a rectangle (for men) or a circle (for women).
(4) If there are multiple relationships involved in the pa
What is the purpose of a genogram?
(1) The genogram is a pictorial graph of the structure and characteristics of a family across three or more generations.
(2) It serves as both a guide to the people and the processes that influence the client's life.
What are key strengths of FST from a multicultural perspective?
(1) One of the strengths of the systemic perspective in working from a multicultural framework is that many ethnic and cultural groups place great value on the extended family.
(2) Families cannot escape the sexism and patriarchy that are inherent in all
What are key shortcomings of FST from a multicultural perspective?
(1) Perhaps the major concern for non-western cultures would be with regard to the balance of this model advocates for the individual versus the collective.
(a) The process of differentiation occurs in most cultures, but it takes on a different shape due
What are the overall key contributions of FST?
(1) One of the key contributions of most systemic approaches is that neither the individual nor the family is blamed for a particular dysfunction.
(2) The family is empowered through the process of identifying and exploring internal, developmental, and pu
What are the overall key limitations of FST?
(1) In the early days of family therapy, therapists all too often got lost in their consideration of the "system."
(2) In adopting the language of systems, therapists began to describe ad think of families as being made of terms such as dyads and triads,