Choice Theory: A New Psychology of Personal Freedom

If you like books that are indepth, insightful, and take some initiative to read, then this is the book for you, especially if you are at a crossroads with some decision in your life. It's not fluff. Written for the intelligent reader who WANTS to help him/herself. Be ready for total honesty with yourself when you open this book. Glasser is a tough old bird! Beware! This is one of the most excellent books I've read in a long time .. .and I read alot.

RESONANCE: Already agreeing with about 95% of Brian Lennon's positive and comprehensive 16-July-98 review, I can explore other topics. Recently I stumbled upon Glasser's 1965 Reality Therapy depicting his theory that mental illness does not exist (except in brain-damage-observable diseases: Alzheimer's, Parkinson's...) He believes that most individuals, diagnosed to be mentally ill, will (usually without medications) greatly reduce their symptoms and increase their competence with life if all persons around them will emphasize that they are responsible for all their choices and behaviors, and will teach them effective and acceptable methods for getting their needs met. What a gem! - 165 pages of straight-forward methodology which the author had used for getting institutionalized juvenile offenders and long-term psychiatrically-hospitalized war-veterans to develop successful lives outside institutions. Having encountered little such thinking in about 40 other books on what is today variously diagnosed as mental illness, I was happy to also find and read both Glasser's excellent 2000 Reality Therapy in Action, and his 1998 Choice Theory (reviewed here). The choice-theory-like methodologies of Albert Ellis, W. Edwards Deming and Herb Kelleher are acknowledged. Also, Thomas Szasz basically agrees with Glasser in his 1974, The Myth of Mental Illness.CHOICE THEORY: Glasser seems to prove that individuals exhibit symptoms of mental and (much of) physical illness by choice, and that these symptoms are the best choice available to him at the time. Glasser has us understand, for example, that hearing voices, "depressing," "panicking," "phobicking," "compulsing," "sicking," "headaching" and "arthritising" might all serve as our chosen methods to control ourselves or others or to quickly get urgently-needed help or attention. To illustrate the voluntary (choice) nature of some illnesses, Glasser writes, "...experiments have shown that a person who is allergic to strawberries may break out in hives when he or she goes into a room with strawberry-patterned wallpaper." FALSE MEMORY THEORY: Perhaps Glasser missteps when, for childhood sexual abuse cases (hallmark is denial) he confoundingly perpetuates denial by arguing in favor of false memory theory. It seems to me that the publicized false memory cases, which might have averted two or three erroneous prosecutions, probably have functioned primarily to liberate and license child abusers. Cynics might even argue that false memory theory has helped to maintain sexual abuse of children at its historic high level in order to insure employment in the psychology professions. (A tragic analogy can be found in Samuel Epstein's, The Politics of Cancer Revisited, where he explains how various industries are fed when cancer incidence is maintained at a high level despite abundant research on successful prevention.) With prevalence running at 20-25%, how could Glasser relate to his clients if he doubts their experience?

I am (by trade & training) an "Instrument & Controls" person, so when I stumbled upon Dr. Glassers "Control Theory" I was actually looking for "manufacturing" type controls. Taking required psych/soc courses in school, I had a hard time buying into their theory of "stimulus/response" (old Pavlov & his dog) etc. and had many heated discussions on why I thought this was bull. But when I read "Control Theory" (now updated to "Choice Theory"), things that I had observed and "understood" (via my "controls" background) fell into place. Everyone knows (?) people don't behave like machines, (but sometimes??...) and this book gives some clue into the reasonings behind motivation's & just what makes us do the things we do. Loved it!

About 14 months ago, I was in the midst of an insoluble relationship problem. It was absolutely intractable. I sought help from numerous sources, including a psychologist. It was finding and reading this book, however, that brought every aspect of this problem into crystal clear perspective, and brought home to me that I was choosing to be miserable, and that I could make better choices. The great wisdom of this book resides in that one very simple fact: we choose how we think, and what we do, and indirectly also how we feel. And we can choose to make better choices. This is a dangerous book. It is a book for lives in crisis. But it is also a book that everyone should read, and read again. The sooner you read this book, and re-read it, the sooner you will find the freedom to finally choose happiness, without guilt. Possibly the most important self-help book you will ever read.

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