Choice Therapy
Choice Therapy posits that the past is not something to be dwelled upon but rather to be resolved and moved past in order to live a more fulfilling and rewarding life.
Basic Ideology:
- The only person whose behavior we can control is our own.
- What happened in the past has everything to do with what we are today, but we can only satisfy our basic needs right now and plan to continue satisfying them in the future.
- Clients choose to get into disorder labels because most of their needs may be met without any big efforts. Thus, all Total Behavior is designated by verbs and named by the part that is the most recognizable.
Key Concepts:
Basic Needs:
We are driven by our genes to satisfy five basic needs: Survival (Physiological Needs + Safety & Security Needs given by Maslow), Love and belonging, Power, Freedom and Fun.
Physiological Needs: The needs of oxygen, food, water, and maintenance of body temperature (food, shelter, clothing & sex).
Safety & Security Needs: Protection from harm, the need for law and order.
Love & Belongingness Needs: The need for friendship, the search for a mate and the desire to be part of a family are all reflections of this need.
Esteem Needs: The need for self-respect, recognition, confidence and competence.
Self-Actualization Needs: Self-actualization is the need to become what one is capable of becoming. Need to utilize one’s potentials to the maximum extent and desire to become what one is capable of becoming.
Fun Needs: The need for fun is the need to find pleasure, to play and to laugh. Should you doubt that this is as important as any of the others, imagine a life without hope of any enjoyment. Glasser links the need for fun to learning. All of the higher order animals (dogs, dolphins, primates, etc.) play. As they play, they learn important life skills. Human beings are no different. It is true that “play is a child’s work.”
Power Needs: Having at least someone who can be influenced. This need can be used to empower the other person.
Freedom Needs: The need to be free is the need for independence, autonomy, to have choices and to be able to take control of the direction of one’s life.
Your counselor/Therapist might have used one of the following techniques.
1. Directly changing the behaviour without making any change in the thoughts and emotions (Fake it till you make it) (e.g.)
Client: I feel anxious
Counselor: What is the opposite of Anxiety?
Cl: Courage
Co: If you are courageous, what would you be doing?
Cl: I will be doing the presentation without any hesitation
Co: Will you be able to fake it till you make it?
- Finding out which needs are not met and helping to fulfil.
- Helping clients to use verbs instead of nouns or adjectives in describing their concerns and thereby helping to choose their behaviour, thoughts and feelings. (e.g. instead of saying I am depressed or I have depression, helping the client to take responsibility for their behavior by saying I am depressing myself)