Behavioral Health Minute

July 2010 - 4 rules for making changes

The short summary

Patients who successfully make changes in health behaviors or mental health issues show some consistent patterns in how they approach the process of change.

The modestly longer reflection

I was reflecting recently on what differentiates the people I see who successfully make changes from those that don’t.  I think it has to do less with diagnosis or severity of challenges as it does with some basic perspectives and practices in how people approach the process of change.  I put together the following observations… pertaining both to health behavior changes and to changes in mental health issues… that I have begun to share with some of my patients.

1. Have a picture in mind about how you want to be different.  It is not enough to be dissatisfied with the way things are now; it helps to have a clear picture of where you want to go.  This picture should be


•       Positive rather than negative.  Example: “more confident,” rather than “less anxious.”
•      Under your control.  Example:  “Take better care of myself,” rather than “Get my boss to appreciate me more.”
2. Remind yourself of the things that you care about that are the reasons why you want to make this change.  Example:  “I want to lower my A1c by taking better care of my diabetes so that I can be more active with my grandchildren whom I love.”

 

3.  Work on it every day.
•       Do at least one thing every day that relates to your goal.  Examples: eat one serving of fruit, walk for ten minutes, express kindness to one person.
•      Create some time every day to think about how you are dong and what you are learning.  Example:  spend 5 minutes in the evening writing yourself some notes about positive steps you took during the day.

 

4.     Let go of what you can’t control.  Don’t get preoccupied and stalled by things that you can’t change…
•       “Outside” things like the behavior of other people
•      “Inside” things like unwanted thoughts or feelings.

Follow-up

Observe what makes the difference between your patients who make changes and those who don’t, and consider these (or your own) core principles about change that you can pass along.

Fred Craigie, PhD