Reality Therapy Paper

Bias is one of the biggest concerns in psychotherapy of all types. It is impractical to believe that our own life experiences will not effect the way that we counsel our clients and view their behavior. In fact, often times the style of therapy we choose to use is derived from an agreement with the different theories of personality formation. For example, if we believe that our experience in early childhood speaks volumes about who we are today, we may identify with the psychoanalytic theory and use its techniques in our counseling method. Beyond specific theories, however, all counselors form their own opinions about why people come to behave the way they do. For me, I believe that childhood experiences can explain much of current behavior.
Again, I believe it has to do with faulty thinking. All behaviors can be changed. Since my worldview centers on faulty thinking as the basis for unhealthy behavior, I would turn to the cognitive therapy styles when counseling a client as the most effective way to “cure” unhealthy cognitions. I also tend to incorporate Reality therapy into my counseling style, in that I believe it is important to stress the idea that the only person you can control is yourself. You cannot control or change the behaviors of others, so it is up to us to make the changes in ourselves and our lives if we want our lives to be different. Reality therapy also stresses the idea of choice '' people choose to behave in certain ways. I believe it is often their faulty cognitive structures that lead them to believe that the behavior being played out is the best way to get what they want, but there is a matter of choice. The Reality therapist then stresses to the client that the consequences of the action, and the responsibility of the action, belong to the client. It may be difficult for the client to believe that they are making a choice to be depressed, but until they are able to change their faulty motivating cognitive structure they will
Regarding the past, I like the Reality therapist’s mantra, “What has happened is over, it can’t be changed. The more time we spend looking back, the more we avoid looking forward.” This seems to jive well with my idea of, “This too shall pass” '' I understand that time and patience is required to change faulty cognitions and unhealthy behaviors, but I think it is important to remind our clients that in time, everything will pass, and for that reason, we must keep moving forward and looking to the future. We take what we can from each faltering step, learn what we can from it, and try to keep moving forward. What I also like about this style of therapy is the importance of rapport with one’s client. I agree that only when a client feels comfortable with a therapist, and feels that s/he can trust her therapist, that we can expect changes to occur. Also important in Realty therapy is instilling hope in the client, that no matter how bad things get, they are no longer alone and change is possible. In terms of cognitive therapies, Ellis’ traditional REBT seems to be an effective tool. The basic idea of REBT is to identify and dispute irrational thoughts that we consistently repeat and