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Kylie Mims

Dr. Clay Morton

Humanities 1001H

March 15, 2013

Everybody Chooses to Lie: House and Choice Theory

Choice theory is a recently developed concept in psychology which suggests that one’s

personal decisions regarding thoughts, actions, feelings, and physiology are responsible for

controlling one’s life, as opposed to many other popular theories that emphasize the influence of

circumstances (William Glasser Institute, 1). Conceived by Dr. William Glasser in the late

1990s, this theory is most known for its focus on personal behavior; however, three of the ten

basic principles of choice theory highlight how choices affect interpersonal relationships, which

Glasser believed were essential for meeting the most important human need for love and

belonging. Choice theory is somewhat psychoanalytic in that it identifies relationships, both past

and present, as the most influential factors in human decision-making. In the popular television

show House M.D., the dynamics between the titular character and those around him serve to

explain the complexities of the doctor’s psyche and provide clarity as to the reasoning behind his

tendencies toward borderline antisocial, narcissistic, and addictive personalities. The character of

Gregory House serves as evidence as to the legitimacy of the relationship aspect of Glasser’s

choice theory.

The most influential relationships during Gregory House’s formative years were

obviously between him and his parents. These relationships support the interaction-related

axioms of choice theory by providing evidence that relationships are the crux of all

psychological issues, and that one’s past relationship problems continue to influence him in the

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present. When his parents, John and Blythe House, first made an appearance in season two

episode five, his tone of voice when he told his mother that he was busy with a case indicated

that he cared about her and did not want her to think that he did not want to see her. He refers to

Blythe as a “human polygraph,” indicating that she knows him better than anyone due to their

lifelong emotional closeness. When having lunch with them later in the same episode, House’s

demeanor changes drastically when his father leaves and he is left alone to converse with his

mother; the light, jocular nature of their conversation expresses the comfort that each feels in the

presence of the other. In the last season, House immediately approaches his mother about

reviewing her medical records when he learns from Wilson that she may have terminal cancer

(8:14). This concern for her physical well-being, as well as her emotional well-being when he

discovers that she has been remarried later in the episode, point to the fact that he deeply cared

for her and wanted her to be happy. This positive relationship was likely the only reason Gregory

House had for attempting to forge the few close relationships he maintained throughout his life

because it offered a small glimmer of hope that some people, particularly women, may be worth

the decision to open oneself to the vulnerability that connections with other people require.

This apparently healthy relationship with Blythe could not atone for the emotional

distance the doctor felt from his father. House clearly stated earlier in that episode that he hated

his father, and his choice to switch from a concerned tone toward his mother to a cold, unfeeling

one when he addresses the elder man confirms that statement. John House’s heartless insistence

that his son join them for lunch even though he has “a patient who’s probably going to die of

radiation poisoning” mirrors the doctor’s own callous bedside manner (2:5). It can be inferred

that the latter has chosen to behave in such a way because he endeavors to avoid attachment to

people out of fear that they may hurt him like his father did. The emotional distance between the

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two throughout Gregory’s younger years was largely caused by John’s intense focus on his

military career over his family, as is depicted through references to their being stationed in Egypt

in “Clueless” (2:15) and the militaristic theme of John’s funeral in “Birthmarks” (5:4). The elder

man also refused to talk to his son for extended periods of time. In season five episode four,

House said, “Anything he wanted to say, he typed up and slipped under my bedroom door” for

an entire summer. In the season three episode “One Day One Room,” House confesses to a

patient that his father physically abused him as well, further expanding the gap between them

(3:12). Season five episode four introduces the fact that House does not believe that John is his

biological father, which he proves through DNA tests near the end of the series (8:14). The

accumulation of all of these relationship struggles throughout House’s early years contributed to

his decisions in adulthood to avoid emotional attachment, especially in interactions with other

males, and therefore the risk of emotional pain. This supports the principle of choice theory

which states that “what happened in the past has everything to do with what we are today”

(William Glasser Institute, 1).

Doctor House’s most notable romantic relationship throughout the series was with Dr.

Lisa Cuddy, the Dean of Medicine at Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital. The two met

when they were in college (2:3) and had a one-night stand shortly thereafter (3:16). Cuddy

treated House when he had an infarction in his leg (1:21) and later hired him as the head of the

diagnostics department at the hospital (1:9). Although they frequently bickered about everything

from the ethics of administering treatment before they knew the diagnosis (2:3) to what it takes

to be a good parent (3:9), both doctors’ behavior suggests that they genuinely cared for each

other, which seems at the surface level to be uncharacteristic of House. After berating Cuddy for

trying to adopt a baby and spending the majority of season five episode six telling her that she

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would be a horrible parent, he chose to change his words and actions when she was not able to

keep baby Joy; he tried to console her, telling her that “there’s more than one baby in the sea”

(5:6). A few episodes later, House exhibited unusually thoughtful behavior by arranging for

Cuddy’s desk from medical school to be brought out of storage so she could use it in her newly

renovated office (5:10). When she was in a relationship with someone else during season six, he

gave her seemingly off-handed compliments and gifts, like a book written by her great-

grandfather, which he later admitted were attempts to express his feelings for her (6:22).

Throughout season six, the desire to keep working near Cuddy was the major motivation for

House to continue to resist taking Vicodin, and the romantic relationship that developed between

them kept him clean through season seven. The changes that he decided to make during this

time, from ceasing his self-medication (6:1) to behaving more appropriately around patients

(7:11), were all for the benefit of his relationship with Lisa; this suggests that his habits and

tendencies were indeed conscious choices because he was able to change them at will.

Dr. James Wilson, an oncologist at Princeton-Plainsboro, was Gregory House’s closest

friend and confidant throughout the entire series. They first met at a medical convention, after

which House bailed Wilson out of jail (5:4). The former doctor revealed in the same episode that

he chose to befriend the oncologist because he could tell that he was not boring by the fight in

the bar for which he was arrested and his later admittance that he was having marital problems.

This somewhat fun-based friendship continued throughout the entire series; the two doctors

frequently went to dinner together (2:5), lived together after Wilson’s third marriage failed

(2:11), and played not-so-harmless pranks on each other (6:13). House’s attachment to his friend

was made evident when the latter decided to leave the hospital in season five episode two; the

protagonist hired an investigator to stalk Wilson in an attempt to discover where he planned to

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move. He also deleted messages from realtors so that James would not move out when he was

looking for an apartment after one of their petty fights (2:15). After Wilson found out that he had

stage II thymoma in “Body and Soul,” House took the necessary supplies from the hospital to

administer intense chemotherapy and radiation treatment for his friend at home since the hospital

refused to dispense the amount of medication Wilson believed was necessary to fight the cancer

(8:19). In the process, the hospital administration discovered their plan and had House’s parole

revoked. In order to be able to spend Wilson’s last months of life with him, Gregory House faked

his own death in the series finale (8:22). At the end of the episode, the diagnostician revealed the

truth of his “death” to Wilson, and the pair rode away on motorcycles to spend the remainder of

Wilson’s life together. All of these instances in which he helped his friend, both physically and

emotionally, depict House’s choices to try to overcome his past relationship problems by putting

forth the effort to satisfy both his and Wilson’s need for love and belonging.

Through his struggles to bond with other people, Gregory House learned that, as choice

theory states, one’s behavior can make or break relationships, and the strain of relationships can

greatly influence one’s choices to behave in a particular manner. Although the tension of his

relationship with his father pressured House to choose to avoid connecting with people, he later

came to the realization that not everyone he cared about was going to hurt him. This allowed him

to choose to open himself up and satiate his need for a sense of belonging, and therefore to

relieve himself of the emotional turmoil of constantly trying to push others away. House’s life

seems to support Glasser’s idea that humans’ most basic need is for love and belonging, and that

people can truly change their lives if they learn to change their choices.

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Works Cited

"Choice Theory - William Glasser Institute." Home of Choice Theory - William Glasser Institute. The William Glasser Institute, n.d. Web. 15 Mar. 2013. <http://www.wglasser.com/the-glasser-approach/choice-theory>.

House M.D.. Shore, David, Katie Jacobs, Paul Attanasio, Bryan Singer, Russel Friend, Garrett Lerner, Greg Yaitanes, and Hugh Laurie. FOX. 2004. Television.