How do people change? For generations, folk wisdom told us that changing
an undesirable behvaior was a simple matter of "willpower."
But
beginning in the 1980s, psychologists James Prochaska and Carlo
DiClemente began research which would challenge the "simple willpower"
model of change:
"Many people we have interviewed first tell us,
'I just woke up one morning and quit [smoking].' [But w]hen we ask more
detailed questions, they begin to remember....[1] They remember the
weeks prior to that fateful morning, when perhaps they switched brands
and became increasingly disgusted with smoking. [2] They remember
earlier attempts to quit smoking. [3] They remember when they avoided
people and the places that were filled with smoke during the two weeks
after quitting. [4] They remember enlisting the aid of several friends
at work by announcing their attempt to quit smoking" (page 210).
In short, Prochaska and colleagues realized that change is not a simple event, but a
process,
including the above techniques of [1] Preparation [2] Relapse and
Renewed Resolution [3] Avoiding Tempting Environments and [4] Making
one's Change-Commitment
Public and tapping Helping Relationships to increase one's chance at success.
In
the end, Prochaska and colleagues finally modeled change as a
Five-Stage Process. They devote a chapter to each such stage in this
book:
Chapter 4:
Precontemplation: where a person isn't even considering changing a behavior, is in denial about it.
Chapter 5:
Contemplation:
where a person begins to be receptive to information about their
problematic behavior, begins thinking about changing it...maybe in the
next six months.
Chapter 6:
Preparation: where a person makes the commitment to change, sets a date, and creates an "action plan" for changing.
Chapter 7:
Action:
where the person puts their Action Plan into gear, usually spending
their first six months meeting a host of basic temptations, challenges,
and distresses of actually changing their problematic behavior.
Chapter 8:
Maintenance:
where the plan is in place. The person tries to maintain their
new/changed way of life. While temptations to stray are fewer at this
point, the person has to be ready for sudden surprises which might knock
them off the beam.
Of course, even the best-made plans can go
awry. ("Everyone has a plan," boxers often say, "until you get punched
in the face.") In fact,
most people fall off the beam the first
time they try to change some behavior (smoking, drinking, overeating,
etc.). For this reason, Prochaska and colleagues added the stage of
"Relapse/Recycling"
to their model (Chapter 9). Happily, they've found that, even when
people lapse in their change-program, many of them "recycle": they (1)
try to learn from their lapse and then (2) return to their
change-commitment, this time a bit wiser than before.
In this
book, Prochaska et al describe each of the change-stages in detail,
pointing out that certain coping-techniques are more appropriate to
different stages of change. For example, while book-learning
("consciousness raising") is very helpful in the Contemplation stage,
Action and Maintenance require more active coping techniques--such as
learning Relaxation, or including an Exercise regimen, or learning to
"talk back" to tempting thoughts (nicely summarized on page 54).
Even
more fascinating, Prochaska et al point out (page 26) that different
styles of psychotherapy/counseling might be more helpful to people at
different stages of change. Contemplators, for instance, can profit
greatly from traditional analysis
(Freudian/Jungian/Gestalt/Transactional/etc). On the other hand, people
at the Action/Maintenance stages might profit better from more
behavior-and-relationship based therapies
(Behaviorism/Cognitive/Humanistic/Existential Counseling).
But
most important, this book aims to be a very detailed guide for readers
who not only want to learn the psychology of change, but also want to
apply
this model to their own lives. For this reason, Prochaska et al (1)
Walk the reader through the five stages; then (2) explain the coping
techniques most helpful to each stage, (3) give real-life examples of
people at each stage and the actions they took at each stage. Finally,
(4) Prochaska et al apply the Stages of Change model to specific
behaviors at Chapter 10: smoking, drinking and coping with psychological
(di)stress.
Of course, no book can be a panacea--change is
difficult no matter how much psychology one has read. (The authors are
well-aware of this, and point it out repeatedly.) But this book offers a
reader an eyes-wide-open vision of how real people really change, and
what kinds of preparation and specific coping skills can best ensure
success in changing one's life.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1939638837
