Comparative Analysis
Person Centered Therapy and Choice Theory/Reality Therapy
By Austin (Russ) Duffy

Introduction

Person Centered Therapy; Carl Ransom Rogers, Born January 8, 1902 – Died February 4, 1987. Rogers was an American Psychologist who developed Person Centered Therapy (originally referred to as Client Centered Therapy in 1951) based on premise that clients are responsible for taking control of the changes they believe are needed in their lives. This would be a clear departure from Freud’s lengthy approach where the counselor would interpret the client’s story or life experience. Rogers believed, using empathetic understanding and unconditional positive regard people would have the potential given the proper tools to resolve their own problems. Rogers identified accurate empathetic understanding as another critical task of therapists.

Choice Theory / Reality Therapy; William Glasser, born May 11, 1925 is an American psychiatrist who developed Choice Theory / Reality Therapy in the early sixties therapies. Choice Theory is an explanation of human behaviour developed by Dr. William Glasser. Reality Therapy is the application of Choice Theory within the context of helping relationships Glasser first developed this approach to use working in schools for troubled adolescents and may explain his life-long interest in both therapy and education. In 1985 the Institute of Guidance Counsellors arranged for Dr. Glasser to visit Ireland. By 1987 the Irish branch of the William Glasser Institute was founded and now co-ordinates training throughout Ireland. Reality Therapy continues to grow all over the world today. Choice theory rests on an assumption that we are always free to choose.

Comparative Analysis

The reality therapist teaches the client ways to try to control the world around them and how to meet their personal needs. They believe that the client can and will change their life for the better. The reality therapist focuses on the clients actions and why they act the way they do. They point out what the client doing and in getting them to evaluate it. The belief is that the behavioral or emotional problem is a direct result of the client’s feelings about themselves. The therapist will help the client evaluate their behaviors and feelings, to challenge them to become more effective at meeting their needs. With Person-centered therapy the therapist will attempt to move the client towards self awareness, helping the client to experience previously denied feelings. They will teach the client to trust themselves and to use this trust to find their direction in life. Person Centered makes the client aware of their problems and then guides them to a means of resolve them. The therapist and client must have faith that the client can and will find direction. The therapist will try to motivate the client in fully experiencing and expressing their feelings. Person-centered therapy believes that good mental health is a balance between the ideal self and real self. This is where the problem lies, the result of difference between what we are and what we wish to be causes the behavior or feeling problem.
Both Person Centered Therapy and Reality therapy approaches believe that the clients are able to find meaning within themselves, and are capable of knowing what they need to do to resolve their issues. In these types of therapy, the client moves towards their goals of realization, autonomy, and fulfillment. Rogers believes the process occurs within an intense client/therapist relationship built upon Trust, empathetic understanding and unconditional positive regard. Clients using Person Centered Therapy or Reality Therapy attempt to develop a greater degree of independence and interaction with people in their surroundings and their personal life. For the client to experience continued growth they are asked to be open to the experience of counseling, to trust in themselves, and to evaluate themselves. Some important concepts I believe are shared (Although they are more clearly stated in Person Centered Therapy) in the Person Centered and Reality Therapy approach are genuineness, congruence, unconditional positive regard, and empathetic understanding. The need for genuineness is achieved when the therapist provides an example to the client of something that is real and genuine. The congruence that develops is important for the client who is often struggling with a lack of genuineness that may cause anxiety or create a lack of trust. This genuineness and congruence will develop through unconditional positive regard that the counselor should be providing to their client. By the counselor providing this type of atmosphere the client does not feel judged in that environment and the relationship in the session can provide the client with the safety to explore their feelings and concerns. Reality Therapy focuses more on current relationship issues the therapist asks the client to make a value judgment about his or her current behavior which is having a negative effect on them at this time in their life. The therapist must be careful while pursuing the client, trying to get them to examine the effects of their behavior, but it is important that the judgment be made by the client and not the therapist. Contrary to Person Centered Therapy, Glasser does not believe in digging into to the past to resolve issues, he maintains that the issue exists as a result of a current problem within a current relationship. Person centered Therapy would suggest that you cannot move forward with a current problem without first going back and investigating and resolving a past issue that relates to the current problem.
Reality therapy, says Glasser, Clients have problems because of what they are choosing to do. They are choosing to behave in these self defeating ways because of the frustration associated with an unsatisfying relationship. If someone suffers from depression or anxiety, they don’t not need to continue to say to them self and others, ‘I’m depressed’ or, ‘I’m anxious’. Instead, they would say, ‘I’ve been depressing because that was the best way I could see of dealing with the situation I was in but I’m now going to look for better choices. Glasser says we choose our behaviors and we choose best behavior for our need or needs at the particular time. Because we choose, we must also accept the consequences of our choices.
Glasser believes we are all born with Five Basic needs. Survival, love and belonging, power, freedom, and fun. These vary in strength from person to person. Our brains constantly monitor whether these needs are being satisfied or not. If we are failing to meet one or more of these needs, we feel bad. The lack of one or more of these needs drives us to find a way to feel better. Reality therapy teaches us to identify unsatisfied needs and seek to satisfy them.
Reality therapy also assumes that each of us has what is known as our quality world. In this world, we place everything or everyone that makes us feel good or who we think would make us feel good. Satisfying experiences and beliefs that make us feel good are also placed there. Most importantly though, people are the largest element in the quality world. Clients coming into therapy are those who have no one in their quality world or who have people that they cannot satisfyingly relate to there. It is most important for that the Counselor is able to get into this quality world for therapy to be successful. Corey says “Getting into the client’s quality world is the art of therapy”
Rogers believed that people had a basically positive direction, they know what hurts and which direction to go for healing but may not poses the tools necessary to get the healing they need. The therapist’s role is to assist the client in exploring and discovering of their own inner resources, not , to impose external solutions, strategies, interpretations or explanations. Once clients become aware that another person believes in their capacity to deal their problems it can give them the confidence so they can then begin to do just that.

The following are Two of Rogers 19 Propositions and what they mean to me. I chose these two because of their similarities to Glaser’s QUALITY WORLD
The organism reacts to the field as it is experienced and perceived, this perceptive field is, for the individual reality.
This means that we see our selves as the centre of our reality that is our every changing world around us. We experience ourselves as the centre of our world and can only know our own perceptions. We do not react to some absolute reality but to our perception of this reality. The perception is The reality. The counselor’s job is to perceive the world as the client does by listening and hearing the client, thinking as they do and entering into the client worlds
The organism has one basic tendency and striving-to actualise, maintain and enhance the experiencing organism.
This means that people have a basic tendency to full fill their potential, to be positive and forward looking. They have a need to grow, improve and survive. When the clients surroundings aren’t conducive to these basic tendencies actualizing and enhancing can become difficult sometimes seeming impossible for some. If on the other hand an environment is created that is conducive the client the then begin to realize their full potential. To create this environment we need the correct ingredients of love, acceptance, positive regard and positive self-regard from important significant people in our lives.