Choice Theory: A New Psychology of Personal Freedom [Paperback]

"A few weeks after I received this book, I showed it to my television audience and said, 'This is a fabulous book.' I was impressed with its clarity, its many examples, and how we can all use it to improve our marriages, get along better with our families, and persuade our children to do well in school. Choice theory, as Dr. Glasser explains it, is a new psychology of health and joy."-- Dr. Robert H. Schuller, Founding Pastor, Crystal Cathedral Ministries ""Choice Theory" is absolutely superb both in its ideas and in the way that it is presented in this book. It is in a class of its own in clarity and depth of understanding and is exceedingly helpful in clinical practice."-- Dr. Robert Lefever, director of the PROMIS Recovery Centres, UK "Bill Glasser has always demonstrated insight and understanding in describing human behavior. In "Choice Theory he has deepened his perspectives and shows the reader alternatives of appropriate behavior. This book is the best of Dr. Glasser's distinguished works--a must for people in the helping professions."-- Richard L. Foster, educational consultant and former superintendent of schools (Berkeley, CA)

Glasser has worked with choice theory for half of his 40 years of psychiatric practice. Basically, choice theory helps its users avoid confrontation and ask pertinent questions. It sees conscious or unconscious desire for external control as the main problem in the four major personal relationships: husband-wife, parent-child, teacher-student, and manager-worker. If you think you can control others, it counsels, you are in for trouble, for the only person you can control is yourself. So all personal problems are both present problems and relationship problems. Glasser urges anyone in a relationship to ask, before taking a step, whether that step will keep the two related persons at least as close together as they are now; if it will, it may be worth taking. Combining choice theory and reality therapy in his practice, Glasser has been able to shorten the durations of his treatment programs substantially. As he presents them here, his theories and approaches can be applied in education and business as well as for self-help.

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 therapists in his theories of Reality Therapy and Choice Therapy. He is also the president of the William Glasser Institute in Los Angeles.