Transcript Motivation For Change

Motivation For Change
Joyce D. Nash, Ph.D.
www.drjoycenash.com
Email: [email protected]
What We Will Cover Today
• Stages of Change
• Targets for Change
• Just what is “motivation?”
• Psychological Flexibility
• Suggestions to help you change
Targets for Change
Any problem behavior
Examples
Smoking
Alcohol and drug abuse
Eating and exercise behaviors
Motivation
• Consists of different stage of being able to commit to changing
• Involves evaluating your personally chosen and deep values and
committing to act on these values
• Developing psychological flexibility
Psychological Flexibility
• Staying in touch with the present moment
• Learning to detach from unhelpful thoughts
• Accepting the painful or unpleasant circumstances that life brings
• Learning to be mindful
• Defining what really matters to you in the big picture
• Taking action on these values
Stages of Change
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Precontemplation
Contemplation
Preparation
Action
Maintenance
Relapse
Stage 1: Precontemplation
• Not recognizing there is a problem
• Purposefully not thinking about the problem
• Giving excuses or rationalizations for the problem that allow it to
continue
• Being in denial of the problem
• Lacking in realistic acceptance
Examples of Precontemplation Stage
• College professor who helped people quit smoking but was a smoker
himself
• Male who says he is abstinent from alcohol but allows himself a glass
of wine “until I can feel it”
• Philosophy of “fat acceptance”
Helping Others Move Beyond Contemplation
• Provide empathy
• Avoid confrontation
• Invoke the person’s concerns for themselves
• Nurture hope
Stage 2: Contemplation
• Focusing on reasons to change
• Recognizing the need to change
• Contemplating how to change
• Wishing for change
How to Move Beyond Contemplation
• Evaluate your ambivalence and procrastination
• What are the obsticales to change?
• How can you overcome them?
• Bolster arguments for change
• Ask yourself questions
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How does the problem behavior “work” for you?
What role does the behavior play in you life?
What are the advantages of changing?
What do you think needs to happen in order to change?
Stage 3: Preparation
• Taking steps to change
• Buying a self-help book
• Talking to others about ways to change
• Making some small changes but without a thought-out plan
• Thinking “I will…” or “I’m going to…”
• Investigating options for changing
Stage 4: Action
• Achieving a mindset that supports change
• Accepting what is
• Evaluating personal values
• Making a personal (and possibly public) commitment to act on values
• Doing it
• Taking it one day at a time
Stage 5: Maintenance
• Staying with it
• “Change is now part of my life”
• Revised self-definition; “throwing the switch in my brain”
Stage 6: Relapse
• A normal part of the change process
• How does relapse happen?
• Social situations
• Negative emotions
• Getting back on track
• Coping skills
• High risk situations
Suggestions
• Evaluate and focus on the advantages of changing
• Avoid self-criticism and labeling
• Maintain hope
• Define and focus on your innermost values
• Create a change plan that is:
• Specific
• Achievable
• Relevant