What are the Stages of Change and Why do they Matter? - Video Transcript

Hey everyone, I'm Kristen, the anxiety therapist and today I'm going to be talking about the stages of change and this is a process that is often applied to those in recovery. So people who have struggled with substance abuse, but it also applies to pretty much everyone who is trying to change some sort of um seemingly problematic behavior.

So maybe you have been wanting to cut caffeine out of your diet or you want to focus on eating better or maybe you want to start a more consistent workout routine. Um we sort of go through these psychological stages of change whenever we're considering making a big shift in our lives because we're just as humans naturally resistant to change, we like what's familiar.

Um even if sort of the logical part of our brain knows that that is not what is in our best interest or healthiest for us. Um we still, I tend to gravitate back toward towards sort of that that homeostasis right? What is comfortable what is familiar for us? So the first stage of changes pre contemplation and this is kind of an ignorance is bliss type of mentality where we really don't have the insight or introspection to recognize that a change even needs to be made.

Then we progress into contemplation. So this is when we recognize that there is um and we can acknowledge that there's a problem but we're sort of ambivalent about it, right? We're like still not quite ready, still not quite sure that I want to make this change. I'm sort of sitting on the fence here, then we move into preparation.

So this is when we might start looking at what some of our options are. You know, let's say we want to start a new workout routine. Maybe we look at the classes that are offered in our area or we look into how much buying a piece of workout equipment might cost something along those lines, but we're not quite ready to commit at that point.

So then we um we move into the action phase and this is when we take pretty significant steps to make a change. So maybe we, you know, sign up for that kickboxing class that we were looking into and we really commit to going twice a week. And so this is actually the shortest stage in the stages of change and typically last 3-6 months, but it's important to keep in mind, we can also go through these stages of change even within a day.

You know, if we're really triggered and we may have an inclination to kind of go back to old behavior, so maybe we just are having a stressful and so our natural inclination is to go and um you know, eat a huge dessert after dinner because that's what makes us feel good, then we might go through some of these stages of change just within an hour trying to modify that behavior or or look into whether or not that's going to be productive for us.

So after action, we move into the maintenance phase and this is when we've sort of, we've committed to the change and um, we are are seeing it through, right. We have made this change consistently for likely several months or even up to a few years and we're maintaining it right. We um, we may still face challenges.

We may still face triggers or the want to kind of revert back to our old ways, but ultimately we're pretty solid and we're maintaining the change, we're committed and then the last stage is relapse and I want to point out how normal and common and natural it is to regress to old behavior. So when we think about relapse often we do think about that in relation to substance abuse.

But relapse can also be just like I mentioned before, kind of regressing back to an old habit. So if we're used to binging on candy after we've had a stressful day at work, you know, we might relapse and go back to doing that for a day or a few days or a few weeks.

And it's this point at which it's really important not to get super discouraged because a lot of times people get really fixated here and there, like I've made all this progress and now I'm just back to square one. And so I think it's really important to remember that progress is not linear, right? We are not starting here and going up this nice, smooth slope toward our target.

Um progress is very much composed of these sort of highs and lows. So we're going to take three steps forward and take a step back and then five steps forward and then take two back. And so, um, it's really important just to keep that in mind when you are trying to tackle any big change because change is hard.

Um you know, it really, it can take several attempts and it can take several sort of regressions back for us to really commit to making that change indefinitely. So I hope this video is helpful. Let me know if you have any questions or comments.

I put new content out each week. So be sure to follow me on social media at cathartic space counseling that's on facebook and instagram. Or you can subscribe to my youtube channel, the anxiety therapist. Um and check out my website if you want to just learn more about me and my practice.

And I have some freebies on there as well. Um, some free free guides. So that is www dot cathartic space counseling dot com. So I hope you all have a great weekend and I'll talk to you next week.