Abstract

Reality therapy and feminist intervention has been applied to clients with various gender issues such as domestic violence, sexual abuse, and marital problems. Both therapies have different therapeutic goals, respectively. Reality therapy emphasizes change of the client, but feminist intervention pursuits change of social structure and institution which trigger and maintain individuals' suffering. The purpose of the present study was to seek theoretical compromise and integration of reality therapy and feminist perspective, and to try therapeutic approach to spousal infidelity case. The client initially blamed her husband for spousal infidelity, attributed his infidelity to her own unattractiveness and complained symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder(PTSD) and negative emotions such as depression, anger and shame. The 12 sessions of reality therapy with feminist perspective were conducted for the client. The client showed significant decreases in PTSD symptoms and negative emotions at post-treatment and 3-month follow-up. The authors are able to confirm that reality therapy with feminist perspective can extend clients' awareness and insight on their problems and sufferings and complement the limitations of psychotherapy. Future direction for therapeutic approach and research was discussed.