glasser posting

I have found reading some of William Glasser’s work very interesting. From what I have read, it seems that it would be empowering for everyone using it. To concentrate on acting and thinking (two of the things that make up his view of ‘total behaviour’) is logical, because, as he rightly says our feelings often seem to be out of our control.
Glasser claims that the only significant problem people have is that of relationship and that even those diagnosed as mentally ill either have at least one very dissatisfying relationship or no relationships at all. Glasser believes that there is no such thing as mental illness but he is concerned with mental health. He believes that people chose certain behaviours, (even hallucinating, panic attacks, etc), in preference of experiencing their current life.
I have known two people who finally suicided and I always felt that they lost their power by coming to rely on drugs as a cure for what was described as ‘chemical imbalances’ in their brains. In both cases I felt that what they were being told by doctors was untrue and felt that the doctors concerned were really abusing their power by disempowering the patients and offering them drugs, which they later came to rely on.
The idea that teachers in schools can have a large impact on students through showing caring and compassion is also empowering as this is what I desire. As Glasser says, “There is no shortage of unhappy people” (Reality Therapy in the year 2000) and if I can do any thing to reduce the number by offering compassion, so much the better.
Glasser does not believe in punishments and from what I have seen of detentions, their effectiveness is extremely limited and I would like to see an alternative course of action.
I am also conscious that in my need to ‘survive’ as an untrained teacher I have used many of the ‘Seven Deadly Habits’ Glasser speaks of at times when it would have been more useful to focus on the ‘Seven Caring Habits’.
Sources
Glasser, W. Reality Therapy in the year 2000.
Retrieved from HYPERLINK "http://www.wglasser.com/rt2000.htm" http://www.wglasser.com/rt2000.htm
On April 3 2007

Glasser,W. School Violence from the Perspective of William Glasser. Retrieved from http://www.wglasser.com/violence.htm on April 3 2007

Glasser, W. Focusing on Chemistry instead of Compassion
Retrieved from HYPERLINK "http://www.wglasser.com/chemistr.htm " http://www.wglasser.com/chemistr.htm
on April 3 2007

Glasser, W. Counseling with Choice Therapy.
Retrieved from HYPERLINK "http://www.wglasser.com/thenew/htm" http://www.wglasser.com/thenew/htm
On April 3 2007

Wikipedia entry on Glasser, William
Retrieved from HYPERLINK "http://wik.ed.uiuc.edu/index.php/Glasser,_William" http://wik.ed.uiuc.edu/index.php/Glasser,_William
On April 3 2007