Counseling with Choice Theory - Softcover

Glasser M.D., William

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0060953667 ISBN 13: 9780060953669

Publisher: Harper Perennial, 2001

Synopsis

In Counseling with Choice Theory, Dr. William Glasser takes readers into his consulting room and illustrates, through a series of conversations with his patients, exactly how he puts his popular therapeutic theories into practice.

These vivid, almost novelistic case histories bring Dr. Glasser's therapy to life and show readers how to get rid of the controlling, punishing I know what's right for you psychology that crops up in most situations when people face conflict with one another.

Practical and readable, Counseling with Choice Theory is Dr. Glasser's most accessible book in years.

About this title

About the Author:

William Glasser, M.D., is a world-renowned psychiatrist who lectures widely. His numerous books have sold 1.7 million copies, and he has trained thousands of counselors in his Choice Theory and Reality Therapy approaches. He is also the president of the William Glasser Institute in Los Angeles.

From Kirkus Reviews:

The backlash may be on. Turn away from ``organic psychiatry,'' urges Glasser (Choice Theory, 1998, etc.); help patients with mental illness accept that they are responsible for their behavior; and drastically reduce our reliance on medications for treating mental illness. Joined by a growing crowd (Peter Breggin, for instance, and Schaler, below), Glasser reiterates his opposition to the theory that mental illness is caused by chemical imbalances in the brain. Instead, he insists that ``what is labeled mental illness . . . are the hundreds of ways people choose to behave when they are unable to satisfy basic genetic needs, such as love and power.'' He interprets brain scan research to show that as patients work in (non-drug) therapy, they begin to make better choices in life, and that as a result, brain chemistry changes. This collection of case histories and commentary ranges over marital discord, panic attacks, alcoholism, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and schizophrenia. Glasser demonstrates how he conducts therapy that helps patients take responsibility for their actions, gradually find better ways to meet their needs, and change inappropriate patterns of behavior. He is generally against ``external control psychology,'' arguing again that patients must learn to control themselves. Though his views are sometimes remote from the current mainstream (``A major purpose of all psychological symptoms is to get sympathy and attention''), he makes a cogent case for his dissent. For those looking for a new view of psychology and psychiatry, either for personal help or to follow the current state of the art. -- Copyright ©2000, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Harper Perennial
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0060953667
• ISBN 13: 9780060953669
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 272