Reality Therapy Essay

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Reality Therapy And Underachievement Summary Reality Therapy is the process of applying Choice Theory. It is a counseling tool which can help stimulate a person’s intrinsic motivation to choose a more appropriate form of behavior. While it can be challenging to use in the classroom, it can produce excellent results. Reality therapy concentrates on the client's needs and getting them to confront the reality of the world. In Reality Therapy, these needs are classified into power, love and belonging, freedom, fun, and survival. Survival includes the things that we need in order to stay alive, such as food, clothing and shelter. Power is our sense of achievement and feeling worthwhile, as well as the competitive desire to win. Love and belonging represent our social needs, to be accepted by groups, families and loved ones. Freedom is our need for our own space, a sense of independence and autonomy. Fun is our need to enjoy ourselves and seek pleasure. We seek to fulfill these needs at all times, whether we are conscious of it or not. This article explains the Reality Therapy intervention strategies used by an undergraduate special education practicum student in dealing with a fifteen year old high school student with a history family problems, aggression, and chronic underachievement. Reality Therapy Reality Therapy is used to bring about change while respecting the needs of others. Learning to assess one's needs and to alter one's life in a small way to fulfill those needs is a significant step towards progress and ultimately taking responsibility for one's own life. Glasser (1999) explains that we have survival needs, as well as the needs of love and belonging, power, freedom and fun. People have an internal world that is referred to as the quality world. The quality world is our ideal place, the place where all our basic needs are met. The real world is the

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