One of the most remarkable aspects of Glasser's Choice Theory is the idea that we always choose the best we know. Dr. Glasser has always claimed that people actually choose depression and do so not because it is painful but because it is the best option they have at the time. Depression is not simply a feeling; it is a total behaviour. Glasser has never shied away from feelings but pointed out that we cannot control them directly; we find it easier to change the doing and thinking components and the rest of the total behaviour changes also. He has also repeatedly emphasized the important signalling role of feelings in our lives.
These ideas challenge the existing hypotheses (mainly chemical) about depression and quite naturally many people can at first be confused by Dr. Glasser's view. First of all choosing and consciousness do not go together. We cross our legs, stir our coffee and maybe even drive home from work without being totally aware of each action but, and this is the important bit, we have "chosen" each of these actions. Becoming aware of just how much we choose in life is remarkably liberating since it opens up the option to us of choosing something different. With greater awareness comes greater control.
Secondly, choice and blame are two very different concepts. Blame carries connotations of censure of past behaviours by others. For Glasser the responsibility of our power of choice is liberating, pointing to our potential to control our lives. In helping a person become more aware of the choices he or she is making right now and the fact that this choice is the person's best attempt to date to manage their lives, Glasser is helping the person grow stronger to make even better choices. This is very different from a debilitating and ultimately ineffective sense of blame.
To the person experiencing the profound human pain that is depression Glasser is giving a message of hope: your feelings are telling you that something very important to you is not working the way you want it to, your thinking is telling you to play safe, to pull back, to send out signals seeking help and understanding, your physiology is doing its best to protect you. This is not evidence of a defect, of a disorder, of an imbalance but instead is an attempt to come to terms with a problem and is a measure of how important something is to you. The problem with depression is if the person does not heed the "change something" component of such signals and yet it can be so very difficult to try to change a situation when hope is at its lowest ebb. The other problem with depression is when professionals do not heed the signals of their clients and, through a lack of understanding of total behaviour, label this coping strategy as an illness. They too are choosing the best they can. Fortunately many of them are now much more open to alternative explanations and spend more time listening to their clients.
Brian Lennon
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