The focus of individual sessions is on what the client _does_, not on what he or she may _feel_. Behavior can be changed much more {156} directly than feelings, and feelings soon fall into place once behavior is more satisfying. What is important is for the client to develop intelligent plans and then to work to carry them through. If certain goals are not realized, the therapist's concern is to encourage the client to take the next practical step, rather than to spend time and energy analyzing what went wrong. The reality therapist accepts that the first steps are often halting ones. It is important not to be disconcerted by occasional stumbling and a few falls. What is essential is a commitment to self-discipline and progress, refusing to punish yourself when a plan may not succeed, but going beyond it with a positive attitude that eventually can become a habit. Glasser gives this illustration of the persistent refocusing on practical issues that characterizes reality therapy: a teenage girl expresses to her therapist that she would like to look for a job. The therapist does not respond, "Good, let me know how it works out," but instead begins the following exchange.[5] THERAPIST: What day next week? GIRL: I don't know. I thought Monday or Tuesday. THERAPIST: Which day? Monday or Tuesday? GIRL: Well, I guess Tuesday. THERAPIST: You guess, or will it be Tuesday? GIRL: Tuesday. THERAPIST: What time Tuesday? GIRL: Well, sometime in the morning. THERAPIST: What time in the morning? GIRL: Oh, well, 9:30. THERAPIST: Fine, that is a good time to begin looking for a job. What do you plan to wear? [5] Glasser and Zunin, "Reality Therapy," _Current Psychotherapies_, p. 324. In another example of reality therapy, a patient says, "I feel depressed and miserable." Instead of responding, "How long have you felt this way?" or "What have you been feeling depressed about?," a reality therapist might ask, "What have you been doing that continues to make you depressed?" or "Why aren't you even _more_ depressed?" With both of these responses, the therapist makes it clear that he believes the client can influence his or her feelings. Often therapists, no matter what their approach, will say to {157} clients who are going through a difficult time that they may phone after hours if there is an emergency. A reality therapist may, in addition, also say, "I hope you'll call me if you have had a special success." APPLICATIONS OF REALITY THERAPY Reality therapy has been used in connection with these types of problems: * individual problems involving anxiety, marital conflicts, maladjustment, and some psychoses where a person is comparatively out of touch with reality and may have hallucinations or delusions * teenage delinquency * difficulties faced by women who have recently been widowed