Reality therapy is an action-oriented therapy in which the clients learn and practice what actions are necessary and profitable for meeting their goals. Glasser states that everything we do, whether good or bad, we do in order to obtain some goal or payoff. However, there are often more profitable methods to obtaining goals. When looking at goals, the client should break them down into simple, attainable, measurable parts. The payoffs should be immediate and the plan should be controllable by the doer, and the doer should be committed to the plan and it should be continually done (SAMIC³). Reality theory states that our actions affect the rest of our being. Put simply, what we do affects the way we think, feel and our physiology (this theory rejects the medical model). Also, we use various behaviors to meet our basic needs (the needs for power, freedom, fun, survival, and belonging). The goal of Reality therapy is to find what abnormal behaviors (such as stressing, being helpless, or miserable) the client may be using and replace them with more effective behaviors used in meeting their needs.

This therapy is behavior centered. In therapy, the therapist will be direct, but non-critical. The pair will decide what behavior is not productive and new behaviors will be chosen. The *WDEP planning cycle will be used in this process. Goals will be set, and excuses for not meeting these goals are not accepted, though the client will be permitted to try again, and the therapist will not give up on the client, and he will not let the client give up on himself. In this, the client will develop a success identity, creating positive addictions replacing his former negative addictions. This is a short term therapy, useful in situations such as family/marriage counseling, drug/alcohol treatment, and student’s maladaptive behavior counseling.