The upshot was that Marie decided to give up being crazy and to return to everyday living. It would have been easy for Dr. Greenwald to conclude that she had been faking all the years she was in the mental institution. But she had not been play-acting. Yet her illness began through a _choice_ she had made, and it ended the same way. Leaving the hospital world was not easy for her. In fact, it was often very difficult. But she stayed with her decision and often had to reaffirm it. She married and had a child. She wrote to Dr. Greenwald: I found myself beginning to drift off, drift out of my life, the way I used to. And--I didn't! I decided to be the kind of person, the kind of wife and mother, that I want to be. Not perfect, just what's possible. And if I drift off, I won't be able to hear my daughter, I'll be just like my mother was with me. Marie went back to school and earned a degree in psychology. After her experience, she was, she felt (as did Dr. Greenwald), in {170} a special position to be helpful to other people in suffering. WHAT DIRECT DECISION THERAPY IS LIKE On your own or with professional help, the truth about you--whoever you are--is that you carry within yourself the resources to heal your most grievous pains, overcome your most paralyzing fears, devise ingenious solutions to your most burdensome problems. Harold Greenwald, _The Happy Person_ During the first session with a client, Dr. Greenwald often says something like, "Do you want me to concentrate on your problems, or would you like us to work together in making you happy?" Immediately, he suggests to clients that in fact they are able to change and become happier. Dr. Greenwald describes seven phases that direct decision therapy involves: 1. Decide what you want in order to be happy (or happier). 2. Find the decision behind the problem: what has your implicit decision been in your life that has established an unhappy, or less happy, pattern? Greenwald calls these _life decisions_: they form the center around which you organize your life. They are responsible for your attitudes, perceptions, what you value most, and your behavior. If your life decision is to suffer, you will interpret everything that happens to you as more suffering-to-be-endured. If you are praised, you may question whether the praise has an ulterior motive. "Sufferers ... have the ability to snatch disaster from every victory."[9] 3. When was the original decision made? Did your life decision come from your upbringing? Did you inherit it from your parents?