NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS USING THERAPEUTIC TECHNIQUE

 Hey there Fashionistas! 

I hope everyone is enjoying the Holidays! As this year comes to an end (literally) I can't help but look back and recap this year. So many important highlights such as reaching 1 year in my career as a Psychotherapist, getting licensed in my field which was a major goal for me, traveling more and other personal goals. However, there is still much more I want to do and 2019 is going to allow me to do just that. 

When setting resolutions for the new year, I like to plan beyond goal setting. Outlining goals and dreams for the new year is a very simple step, however, that is just the beginning. We all know that finding motivation and pushing through when it gets tough is the difficult part and that is what I like to prepare myself for. 

I want to share with you a therapeutic technique I use with my clients called Behavioral Activation. This technique is very beneficial for people who are battling depression and might find it challenging to complete the simplest of tasks due to a lack of motivation.  But the reality is we all have moments where we lack motivation and can use some behavioral activation in our lives. 

During behavioral activation, clients will identify positive activities to replace their old negative behaviors. Next, they'll create a schedule to outline when each activity can be completed. This outline can be helpful to address any potential pitfalls and ensure that the weekly plan is realistic and manageable which is very important when outlining goals. In my case, when I am extremely overwhelmed,  I tend to procrastinate to the point where I can miss deadlines. This is a negative behavior that I would like to replace. Something that I have been working on when overwhelmed is breaking a task into more manageable parts. That way I can focus on one part at a time instead of becoming overwhelmed looking at the task as a whole. 

After you have outlined the negative behaviors and positive activities you can move on to setting rewards that can continue to motivate you because let's face it, we wouldn't function if we didn't receive things in return (love, affection, money, acknowledgments, etc.) This can't be emphasized enough: Someone who is depressed might have a hard time getting out of bed by noon and brushing their teeth, let alone waking up at 6 AM, creating a résumé, or running a 10K. It can be helpful to create a list of positive rewarding behaviors and rank them from 1 to 10 in the areas of ease and reward. Below are two worksheets to help with the process.

Now It's time to implement the behavioral activation plan! In this step, plan how and when to complete the positive replacement behaviors. This means talking about possible obstacles, scheduling times for activities throughout the week, and deciding how you will remember to follow through with the plan. Be specific. Don't say "I'll do something on Thursday" and leave it at that. What will you do on Thursday? When exactly? How will you remember? Something that I encourage my clients to use and I do as well is social support. Choose a friend who you are comfortable talking to about your plan, and see if the friend will help encourage you. Check out the worksheet below for scheduling a plan! 

Even though that is the last step, your work does not end there. You should always look back and see how relevant and realistic your plan is and make adjustments as needed! Successes should be met with praise, and failures should be addressed with problem-solving. Maybe the planned activity wasn't a good fit (Was it rewarding? Was it easy?), or maybe you just forgot to do it. If you are successful, remember that this is a long-term project and you need to continue. When motivation and mood start to improve, begin transitioning to more challenging positive activities with long-term payoffs (but don't totally neglect the easy and rewarding stuff).

I hope you find this technique easy to follow & useful. Good Luck!

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Happy New Year!

Pamela.