What is Reality Therapy?

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Reality Therapy states that individuals, not mental health issues, are responsible for their actions and behavior. People make choices that help them get their needs met, but some of these choices are unhelpful, leading to poor relationships skills and ways of relating to others. The therapist’s goal is to motivate individuals to take responsibility for their choices and behavior.

Counselors traditionally use Reality Therapy in prisons and schools. They can use it for individuals, couples, or groups.

Some mental health professionals claim Reality Therapy doesn’t validate mental health diagnoses.

Motivation, behavior, choices, and action are core components in Reality Therapy. Your therapist might help you understand each of these concepts and how they apply to your life. Therapists often spend time asking clients what their needs are. These can range from small things, such as desiring to rid yourself of a bad habit, to larger-scale issues, such as wanting to get your needs more fully met by your partner. Your therapist will help you decide what behaviors can more efficiently get your needs met.

Much of Reality Therapy involves identifying how your behavior, thus far, hasn’t been helpful. Once you gain this understanding, you will be more likely to make choices that align with getting your needs met in healthy, positive ways.

Therapists Who Specialize in Using Reality Therapy

Dr. Devaraj is passionate about working with clients with addictions, including eating disorders. She has done extensive postgraduate training in counseling and addictions through a series of courses, institutes, research, workshops, and seminars. She has become an advocate for maternal mental health and hopes to help people better understand postpartum depression. Although Dr. Devaraj uses an...
Dr. Green is an award winning psychologist and a nationally recognized researcher. She is a Professor of Psychology and Behavioral Neuroscience at Cornell College and the Director of the Cornell College Eating Disorder Institute In her part-time private practice, Dr. Green treats clients with a variety of presenting concerns including eating disorders, anxiety disorders, depression, substance...

Zi Wang

New York

New York

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DeAnne Hart

Austin

Texas

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Guided Grace Family and Youth Services takes an altruistic approach to therapy. We realize that the world has evolved and therapeutic services cannot stay the same. We provide individual and family therapy by offering multiple services. Our newly renovated space allows us provide an “out of the box” approach to your journey to total wellness by offering groups such as; anger management, Grief,...

Tarsha Marie Degay

Denver

Colorado

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Hudson Valley Counseling offers individual, group and family therapy. Our therapeutic approach recognizes the quality of the therapeutic relationship as an essential element in the therapy process.We look to collaborate with clients to identify core challenges in their life and assist them in developing treatment goals and objectives which ultimately empower them to take charge of the design an...
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