Phases of change that people go through
Throughout their lives, people experience emotional and behavioral changes in response to adverse situations or challenging events in their daily lives. Understanding these processes of change is important because it can help us identify where a person is in their life. These are models widely used in psychology when seeking to change habits, such as addictions or eating disorders .
The transtheoretical model of Prochaska and DiClemente describes and explains the different stages through which the process of behavioral change or problem resolution occurs. In their model , they identified six stages that symbolize six realities that anyone goes through in a change process. This model, initially developed in the context of smoking cessation, has proven valid for any type of problem-solving process, whether self-directed or facilitated by a qualified professional.
What are the stages of overcoming challenges that allow us to change our habits?
Changing habits or behaviors isn't always easy. Sometimes we find ourselves in situations where we know exactly what we want to change, but we don't know how. In other cases, we start changing a habit, but it doesn't stick, which can be very frustrating and demotivating.
The stages of the change process are:
- Precontemplation : The person is unaware of the problem and therefore does not see the need to change. Consequently, they usually do not seek therapy or reject it.
- Contemplation : The person begins to have doubts about their behavior and the existence of a problem, so they start to weigh the pros and cons of what they want to change. In this case, the person would begin to modify their discourse, focusing it on change, but without being entirely convinced.
- Preparation: The person acknowledges they have a problem and decides to attempt a change, developing the self-confidence to modify their behavior. In this case, the person's discourse focuses on finding the right moment to initiate this change.
- Action: The person puts their decision into practice by actively working on modifying behaviors related to their health or addressing the identified health problem. At this point, the person accepts external help to facilitate change.
- Maintenance: The person habitually adopts the acquired behaviors. A maintenance stage is considered to have been reached when the new behavior persists over time. The person must practice it continuously to avoid regressing to previous stages.
- Relapse Stage: This can occur at any stage. The person returns to a previous stage of change, although this does not mean starting over; rather, they cease to exhibit the desired behavior, which is attributed to a loss of motivation or the use of an inadequate change strategy.
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