Reality therapy is a form of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). When clinicians who understand the treatment administer it, the therapy is very effective. Today, many facilities shy away from the practice because it is complex. However, it does reap incredible benefits since professionals will customize it to the needs of the client. Pairing it with other addiction treatment therapies can make for a fully effective treatment plan for clients.
What is Reality Therapy
Reality therapists believe that their behaviors create a person’s world and that a person shapes their actions by their ability to fulfill their basic needs with the choices that they make. Often, people don’t realize that they have choices to make in these situations. They don’t realize they can end up making choices that affect their lives negatively.
The job of a reality therapy program is to guide loved ones to make better choices. According to reality therapy guidelines, people have five basic needs; they are:
- Love and Belonging
- Power
- Survival
- Freedom
- Fun
For example, a child that is ignored or abandoned by their parents may make choices that lead to being an outcast at school. As the person grows, they continue to be an outcast since they never learned how to fulfill the need for love and belonging appropriately.
Reality Therapy History
William Glasser hypothesized reality therapy in the 1950s to 1960s. Dr. Glasser had been working with patients in a correctional facility. He found that no matter the amount of psychoanalysis he was to do on patients they still would not stop their negative behaviors.
It was then that Glasser realized that these people needed behavioral or choice making corrections to get the things that they truly needed. Through his work, Glasser came to recognize that we induce behaviors by the choices we make and that these can become a habit if they are even partially fulfilling our needs positive or negative.
A reality therapy program is not a type of program meant to dwell on the past. The focus is to find the behaviors that need fixing and remedy those. The path to wellness in reality therapy consists of a behavioral overhaul that allows the professional to meet the needs of the patient.
The program can also be a life skills training program. Here, people learn the life skills that help them to live better quality lives. Reality therapy aims to provide participants with choices, helping enforce positive behavioral skills so they can live their best life.
Reality Therapy at the Soledad House
The Soledad House knows that you want to do all you can to become the best version of you possible. The reality therapy program at the Soledad house will provide you with the relapse prevention plan you need to live the life you have been dreaming of. Our womens addiction treatment programs are here to help our clients achieve their recovery goals.
The reality therapists will work closely with your situation and help you to create new choice and behavioral habits without lamenting about the past. Your experience in the reality therapy program will focus on your future and learning to fulfill your needs in healthier ways. The entire process looks like this:
- A reality therapist will assess you
- You will discuss how you have been meeting your needs and what behaviors and choice making processes you feel you may need to change
- As you work through some of your easier to identify issues deeper processes that need to be changed will likely come up
- With your willingness and hard work you will learn the necessary skills to live a healthy life
- You and your therapist will look at how to maintain your new choices and behaviors
Reality therapy treatment at the Soledad House will help you in many facets of life. It will help you to abstain from your addictive habits; it will help you to improve the relationships you already have, and to create beautiful new connections in your life. The reality therapy program will help you to grow as a human being. It will make you a better person and allow you to live a better life. To begin, contact Soledad House today by calling 866.314.3222.
