Realitetsterapi/valgteori er en psykologi, terapi og pedagogikk utviklet av psykiateren William Glasser i løpet av de siste 40 år. Tankene hans har gått noe på tvers av "mainstream" psykiatri.  Psykiatrien er for tiden inne i periode med stor frustrasjon - i denne situasjonen er det flere og flere som oppdager verdien av realitetsterapi - og også andre såkalt kognitive terapier. Nå kan det, etter min mening, diskuteres om Choice Theory er en kognitiv terapi.  Relasjonener spiller en overordnet rolle.  Selve helbredelsen ligger i relasjonene.  Og på det grunnlaget spiller de kognitive prosesser inn.

Når jeg sier at Glasser kom med noe nytt, noe som er utviklet over de siste 40 år, så er det noe misvisende, etter min mening.   Grunntankene har vært kjent i tusener av år både innen religion og filosofi - realitets terapi er tvers igjennom nøytral i religiøse spørsmål og brukes med suksess i alle slags kulturer. . Men Glasser har satt tankene inn i et system, en ramme, som gjør at de kan brukes og er nyttig i en postmoderne, verdinihilistisk verdensforståelse.

Glasser lar fortid og problemer være historie.  Det hjelper oss ikke dvele ved nederlagene, elendigheten.  Terapien går ut på å hjelpe oss og forstå hva vi vil, våre ønsker og mål, og så forsiktig lede oss til å ta de valg som hjelper oss mot målet. Omstendighetene, og atmosfæren, må være slik at våre egen indre motivasjon frigjøres.  Tvang, manipulasjon og endog gode råd kan virke mot sin hensikt.

Glassers tanker har vært lite kjent i Norge. I norsk fengselsvesen og i Sola Komune er terapien blitt til stor nytte i rehabilitering.  Ellers er hans tanker dominerende i Irland, Slovenia - i Canada og i hans hjemland USA vinner denne menneskevennlige og enkle tilnærmingen mer og mer grunn og respekt -  også i psykiartriens og pedagogikkens innerste maktdomener.

Glassers tanker er også forholdsvis sentrale i det som for noen år siden gikk under begrepet "innvolveringspedagogikk".  Samtidig er slektskapet stort med ideene bak sosialpedagogikken. Jeg vil også nevne slektskapet med Nina Karin Mosens filosfi.  Og hvis vi skal gå enda lenger bak: Spinoza og epikurererne - for de som kjenner litt til filosofi.

Du kan lese mer her på hjemmesiden til Choice Theory/ Irland.
http://indigo.ie/~irti/whatis.htm

Og så kan du finne mer på min hovedside:
http://lende.no

Bøkene til Glasser er ikke særlig "akademiske"  - men en av han nærmeste medarbeidere gjennom mange år, professor Robert E. Wubbolding, har skrevet en ny bok (2000) som er meget leseverdig, og som også tilfredsstiller akedemiske "krav" til dokumentasjon etc,
Reality Therapy for the 21st Century

Han skriver blant annet:  "Det har blitt sagt at realitetsterapi har sine røtter i Adlers terapi.(Evans 1982)   Og det har vært forsøk på å binde disse to teoriene sammen (Whitehouse 1984). Det er mange sammenfallende måter å se tingene på, men det er også forskjeller. Mosak (1989 )sier  at Adler forandret spørsmålet, "hvordan skaper arv og miljø den enkelte" til "hvordan bruker den enkelte arv og miljø?". Realitetsterapi har fullt samsvar med dette og utvider spørsmålet:  "Hvordan kan den enkelte foreta bedre valg for å få tilfredsstilt sine behov (spesielt til gode relasjoner/tilhørighet)  uten at dette går bekostning av andre."

Robert Wubbolding er en engasjerende lærer.  Hvis vi får til noe kurs her til lands, er det sannsynlig at det blir Robert (Bob) som kommer.   Han har uttrykt sterkt ønske å få komme.

På en forelesning med professor Lysne om psykiatriske retninger, spurte jeg ham hvorfor han ikke hadde med Glasser.  Forklaringen han ga meg var at han tok med de som kom med noe fundamentalt nytt.  Han mente at Glasser var ekletisk - at han hadde plukket litt her og der. Min tanke var at om en har en masse deler til en motor,  så kommer det litt an på hvordan delene settes sammen.  Det er trolig ganske vesentlig?

Slektskapet til Victor E. Frankl er etter mening ganske stor med sin "vilje til mening". Hvis vi  klassifierer Wiener-psykoglogene slik:

Freud:  "vilje til lyst"
Adler: "Vilje til makt (mestring)"
Frankl: "Vilje til mening"

.   Glassers "slektskap" med Freud er ellers alldeles perifert og minimalt - vi kan på noen måter snakke om diamentrale motsetninger.   Det kan nok finnes en del paraleller til Carl Rogers.  Personlig vil jeg tro at hans tanker ligger nærmere Frankl.  Men for Glasser ligger "meningen" i de "gode relasjoner" , "kjærligheten" og i "mestring".

Ellers så finner jeg et stort slektskap med psykiateren og pedagogen Georg A. Kelly  - konstruktivismen  og også den kjente skotske psykiateren Ronnie Laing.  Jeg spurte professor Bob Wubbolding, som har vært Glassers nærmeste medarbeider om han trodde at Glasser at lest noen av disse.  (Glasser er utdannet som klassisk psykoanalytiker)  Her er svaret jeg fikk:

Dear Tore, Good to hear from you. I am 99% sure that Glasser never even heard their names. He reads virtually nothing in the area of psychology or related topics. The ideas are more universal and so other people with similar ideas have preceded him and are contemporaries.  But Glasser rarely takes any idea from anyone else intentionally. . . only Powers, Deming.  Maybe one or two others.
Sincerely,
Bob

Dette synes jeg setter Choice Theory/Realitetsterapi i et spennende lys.  Dette at flere psykoanalytikere kommer til et lignende resultat uavhengig av hverandre - og som samtidig bryter med moderne psykiatri/psykologi er med å gjøre tankene både interessante og troverdige.  Det gjør som Choice Theory spesielt interessant er at den er enkel å forstå, forholdsvis enkel å bruke og den har bevist sin effektivitet i praksis.  Veldig mange opplever Glassers tanker  som "sunt folkevett"

Verdt å nevne er også at Choice Theory går veldig fint sammen med "Philosophical Practice"
http://www.infinityweb.nl/vfp/

Den etter hvert så utbredte «lykkepillen» er lite til hjelp dersom en vil forebygge psykiske lidelser, påstår Dalgard. Tvert imot mener han bruk av lykkepillen er en av flere tiltak som forhindrer forebygging. Lykkepillen gjør det motsatte av å forebygge, sier han.

A reader from Dallas, Texas , 2 October, 1998
Choice theory brought home to me just how free I really am.
Can a book about psychology bring a new measure of personal freedom to the reader? Indeed it can! In his latest book, psychiatrist William Glasser offers freedom from widely accepted ideas that play havoc with good relationships. This is a book about relationships. It shows how all of us can improve every personal relationship in our lives, and, thereby, help us solve many of the problems that plague our times.

Best of all, this is a wonderfully readable book. The reader gets acquainted, up close and personal, with real people who present real problems-problems all too familiar to most of us. Within the privacy of the counseling room, we are treated to word-for-word accounts that demonstrate how Dr. Glasser sets the stage for those who are troubled to open new and liberating doors for themselves. We are even treated to a view of the psychiatrist-writer counseling literary characters, such as Francesca in THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY.

The book, REALITY THERAPY, published in 1965, brought Dr. Glasser to international prominence. A book about counseling, it pioneered a movement, now widely followed. The current style of counseling is no longer aloof and mysterious, no longer rooted in futile attempts to re-live the past, but rooted in the here and now and directed toward need-fulfilling involvement with others. This new book demonstrates, in a most persuasive way, the startling idea that we choose all that we do. What a liberating idea! We even choose misery at times, but usually we have better choices, and the author shows us graphically that we are free to make these.

Much of the unhappiness that most of us endure-at least, periodically-stems from the widespread belief we hold that people can be forced, through threats or rewards, to do things they do not want to do. Glasser refers to this massive tendency toward coercion, ever present in our society, as external control psychology. Choice Theory is the exact opposite of domination and invasive power. The new choice theory is, indeed, a remedy for all this misery. Without resorting to threats or bribes, we can vastly increase the likelihood that people will do what we want them to do if we learn and apply choice theory. Glasser's convincing explanation of this practical way of improving our relationships is the great achievement of this book.

Though not a book about religion, we find here a consistency with the Golden Rule, as the author himself points out. This remarkable book explores the relationships that most affect the quality of our lives: love, marriage, work, and family relationships. The author shows how schools can be true centers for quality learning. In a chapter on management in the workplace, Glasser shows why W. Edwards Deming met with such stunning success, first in Japan and later in America. Glasser also gives his view of why Southwest Airlines has been so extraordinarily successful in a highly competitive industry.

Having pointed the way to quality in our most important relationships, Glasser offers a bold proposal for creating quality communities. His proposal for vast social impact is not just a remote ideal; he describes the steps that are now being taken in one American city. If Corning, New york can do it, why not your community?

Dr. Minor Morgan is an attorney and practicing psychologist in Dallas, Texas. --This text refers to the paperback edition of this title

A reader from San Angelo, TX , 12 September, 1998
Insightful, Revealing, Unnecessarily long-winded
Although this book is entertaining, enjoyable & VERY revealing about one's hidden personal natures, 340 pages is too long. It needs to be condensed considerably. Nevertheless, it is still worth reading, especially for people with unhappy personal relationships. --This text refers to the paperback edition of this title

ljzard@yahoo.com from Vancouver, BC, Canada , 31 July, 1998
One of the best books I have read on human relationships
Not being a "mental health professional" I found it very understandable and easy to read. I found at times I could not put it down. At other times I had to put it down to digest the content. An excellent and very worthwhile read. Should be required reading for both business leaders as well as academia or any individual who is looking to improve the quality of their LIFE! --This text refers to the paperback edition of this title

blennon@indigo.ie from Dublin, Ireland , 17 July, 1998
Dynamic challenging and radical.
William Glasser, the author of "Choice Theory: A New Psychology of Personal Freedom" has been writing about therapy and educational matters since he first published "Reality Therapy" in 1965. "Choice Theory" is very much a summary of his theories and practical ideas as they stand at the beginning of 1998. There certainly is some repetition of earlier ideas but there are important changes: the realization that his theories are not just about therapy or education but in fact provide a complete psychology of human behaviour; a greater streamlining of terms and theoretical ideas; a renewed emphasis on the importance of relationships in human life and of the central role of relationships in all human problems.

Glasser contrasts his "internal control psychology" with "external control psychology" which, he claims, dominates so-called common sense thinking. The mistaken idea that we can control others destroys marriages, se! ! riously damages our educational system and generally increases problems in society.

Glasser explains how he has developed his own ideas borrowing also from those of William Powers ("Control Theory") and W. Edwards Deming (the American statistician who revolutionised the Japanese economy in the 1950s). We behave in order to satisfy genetically-based needs and, to this end, we accumulate a catalogue of effective "pictures" he calls the "quality world". Almost all our behaviour is chosen and through it we attempt to realize our pictures and satisfy our basic needs. Since Glasser sees behaviour an a totality of doing, thinking, feeling and physiology, he claims that we can make choices to change all four components. "Choice theory explains that, for all practical purposes, we choose everything we do, including the misery we feel." We are often unaware that this is a choice but once we realize it we know we can choose something diffe! ! rent.

With this important view of behaviour as a totality! Glasser recognises that physiology will change quite dramatically when a person chooses different behaviours. The mistake of many scientists and pseudo-scientists has been to confuse correlation with causality and to assume that the chemistry causes the behaviour rather than it simply accompanies it. Even in the 1970s, world famous behaviourist Albert Bandura set up remarkable research designs to locate the independent variables in systematic desensitization therapy. He found that it was not stimulus nor physiological response but the client's perception ("self efficacy") that determined the outcomes of the therapy. Psychopharmacologist Peter Breggin's different books on psychiatric drugs betray the secrets of what I call the "pseudo-scientists", those who have an agenda other than science.

In a practical section of "Choice Theory" the author spells out implications of his ideas for marriage, family, education and the workplace. Glasser prrovides many case reports, some fictional some real, to illustrate not only how he would handle these situations but also the reasons for his approach at each point.

Glasser does make claims that are radical: he does not accept the standard view of "mental illness"; he emphasizes the fact that we can choose our behaviours; he says we need to change the whole system in our schools (rather than force students to adapt to unsatisfying systems). He does give clear explanations for these remarkable views but it is important to remember that this book is not written by an arm-chair theorist. Glasser's ideas on therapy are put into practice by the thousands of people around the world who have taken official training in his approach and by countless others who rely on reading and college courses. His ideas on education can be seen at work in an increasing number of schools and are generally supported by several other important educational authors. There is also a growing body of research to support the effectiveness of his ideas.

"Choice Theory" is essential reading for anyone in professional helping roles but thanks to the author's commitment to writing in plain English, it is a source of new ideas for everyone. His theory is beguilingly simple but in fact the ideas are remarkably profound when one considers all the ramifications of what he says.

Surprisingly Glasser does not go into a lot of detail on addictions and addictive substances in this book although he has covered the topic well in earlier publications. An alphabetical index would also have been a helpful addition to the book. Currently other authors are compiling an inventory of research into Choice Theory issues and the resulting references would also greatly enhance this book. The most important improvement perhaps is to make it available in paper-back so that a wider audience can read it.

The author of this review is a faculty member of the William Glasser Institute. So you may regard the reviewer as biased or informed. It's your choice. Best of all, read the book and make up your own mind. --This text refers to the paperback edition of this title

A reader from Miami, Florida USA , 16 July, 1998
One of the best books writen about personal relationships.
The benefits that I have received by reading this book are multiple.

The new approach of using Deming's total quality teachings in education can change person's way of looking at life, and if applied in basic, middle and high school eduaction could be a great contribution towards making our children more reponsible for their own acts and better citizens.

Dr. Glasser states that nobody but ourselves can control our own feelings and reactions. Depression and anger are feelings that can be controled and changed. Also his present day approach shortens the amount of time that therapists have to spend with patients, by considering as important what is going out now and not loosing time figuring out the past. Dr. Glasses presents several clinical cases where results were outstanding using his method of therapy.

The concepts of this book apply to personal relationships as well as job related ones. Dr. Glasser shows how every person has a quality world with 3 main compone! ! ts: people we care for, things we consider important, and our own ideas and concepts about life. The combination of these factors will make us happy or unhappy depending upon our own choices. Only people and items we let into our own world are the ones that can influence our feelings and reactions, Dr. Glasser shows in this book how to manage them efectively, and teaches the reader how to make the changes that will transform their own lives and also to influence changes in lives of the people we love and care for. --This text refers to the paperback edition of this title
 

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