Tyrelle is thinking a lot about his life and where he would like to be in five years. He is beginning to realize that if he wants to achieve his goals, he may need to make some changes to the way he is living now. He is engaging in which step of the Behavior Change process? Get Ready Measure Health Build Skills Form Habits

The correct answer is Get Ready

According to psychologists James Prochaska and Carlo DiClemente, we can didactically divide the change process into 6 phases. This model is followed in several psychological treatments. It is widely used in the treatment of chemical dependence, but it can be expanded to any behavioral change process (eg: change of diet, start exercising, etc.).

1) Pre-contemplation

2) Contemplation

3) Decision / Determination

4) Action

5) Maintenance

6) Relapse

It is important to note that these phases do not follow a linear logic, that is, they do not happen one after the other. They serve as a reference to show how a change process happens. It is a didactic division that does not always have absolutely defined contours. Ex: A person is making efforts to stop eating sweets (action), but may suddenly eat a large amount (relapse). Or you may not have eaten for months (maintenance) and start to think that eating sweets does not hurt you (contemplation). That is, the phases can be activated at any time, through ambivalence (conflicting and opposing feelings and thoughts on the same issue).