Increasing Motivation & Readiness for Change Precontemplation | Addiction and Mental Health Recovery

Hey there, everybody. And welcome back to the addiction and mental health disorders treatment manual. This is unit 1, part 15, stages of readiness for change, Pre contemplation. I'm your host, Dr. Donnelly Snipes. In this video, you're going to learn about the stages of change and how to increase your recovery momentum. So what is readiness for change? Well, readiness is a combination of motivation, willingness and ability. Do you want to. Are you motivated? Okay, there are still sometimes things we want to do that we're not willing to do. You know, it's like, it sounds like a great idea, but not so much. So are you motivated? Are you willing to do it? And do you have the ability, do they. Do you have the tools and resources you need in order to make it happen? You'll go through a sequence of stages as you think about, begin and maintain new behaviors. And it's important to remember that you're going to go through these stages for every desired change or action. Recovery, for example, sounds great, but that is a very big, complex task. And for every part of the recovery process, you're going to be more or less motivated. And in those areas where you're less motivated, it's going to be important to increase your motivation. So let's start with pre contemplation. Pre contemplators are people who are not ready to admit or not willing to admit there's a problem. In pre contemplation, the person does not intend to change and minimizes, rationalizes and denies whatever's going on. The problem just doesn't exist. You're making it all up. You're making too much out of it. Now there are a lot of reasons people may not be ready, willing or able to start making a change or admit that there's a problem. Rebellious pre contemplators are afraid of losing control over their lives. The mantra is, don't tell me what to do, I'll do it when I want to. Thank you very much. In the past, these people may have felt powerless over their lives over something else. The person may have experienced trauma and is afraid if they start feeling feelings, they're going to get overwhelmed. And the addiction or the mood disorder or whatever, they know how to deal with that. They've got that right now. That is their quote, normal or their day to day life life. And they have got that. But starting to change may open up a whole Pandora's box that could be completely overwhelming. We see the same thing when we start looking at people who are trying to recover from anger issues. Anger is an emotion that protects you. It protects that soft, squishy inner core that was disappointed, that was hurt, that was abandoned. So some people, they may think that recovery sounds great, but then actually admitting that there's an anger problem, that their anger is causing them problems in their life, and looking at what's motivating that anger, that may feel really terrifying, really overwhelming. It's going to be important to help people who are in this stage of pre contemplation start thinking about shifting energy into making positive choices rather than rebelling. Spend about 20 minutes thinking to yourself what is one thing you feel you are being forced to change? What are you afraid will happen if you are not in complete control over everything at all times? In what ways does changing this make you feel unsafe? And remember, this is not just about addiction. It could be physical habits, it could be relationships, it could be addiction, it could be a variety of things, or even changing the way you perceive events. Instead of seeing the world as threatening and dangerous, being willing to consider that there might be some good in the world. So in what ways does making this change make you feel unsafe? What parts do you have control over? And you're not going to have control over everything. What parts do you have control over? And what can you do to feel safer and more empowered? So if you identify, we'll take anger because that's. I used that example earlier. If you are getting ready to start addressing the anger that you have just seething inside of you, well, letting some of that out and identifying what's causing you to feel angry, to feel threatened, can feel threatening in and of itself. So what is it that you can do to feel safer and more empowered? One of the things may be to make sure that whomever you're working with, whether it's a sponsor or a therapist or a doctor, make sure that they are going to let you set the pace. And you know, a good therapist, sponsor, etc will be wanting you to set the pace. But it may be important for you to actually get that out there and say, okay, if we're going to do this, these are the conditions. This is what needs to happen so I can feel safe. The next type of pre contemplator is somebody who is a reluctant pre contemplator. They may not have sufficient knowledge of the problem or the impact that it's having. Addiction is rarely a one and done. It sneaks up on you and gradually destroys your self esteem, your relationships, your health, your reputation, et cetera. Sometimes when you're in the thick of it, it can be difficult to See the impact the problem is having. You may look around and go, it's not a big deal if you're having difficulty getting motivated because you've minimized or rationalized the problem, or you've tried one treatment approach and it didn't work. Increase your awareness of the impact that the addiction or the mental health issue is having in your life and the many recovery or treatment options. There are literally dozens of approaches, dozens of treatment options out there to address the underlying issues that are contributing or causing your mood, mood issues that are contributing or causing your addictive behaviors, or any other mental health issue that's going on. So again, spend about 20 minutes. How is addiction impacting your health and mental health and your relationships? Just really think about how it's impacting. And although this isn't on the slide, what options do you know about for addiction recovery? There are. Like I said, there are dozens. And if you don't know what the different options are, then it's going to be important to do your research so you feel empowered to make the best choice for you. The next question how is your mental health issue impacting your health, your mental health, and your relationships? Remember, mental health issues like anger or anxiety or depression often don't exist all by themselves. They anger, for example, may contribute to fear of abandonment, may contribute to depression because you're angry so much, you're just exhausted. So how is your mental health issue negatively impacting your life? And again, what treatment options are available that you might consider to use for addressing those mental health issues? And the third type of pre contemplator. These are the resigned pre contemplators. They often feel hopeless about change and overwhelmed by all of the energy required. They may realize there's a problem. They may realize that there are options out there, but it's just all too overwhelming. They may have tried to recover before and relapsed. It's important to encourage people to use prior recovery attempts as learning experiences to identify strengths and strategies, as well as relapse warning signs and triggers. Every time that you've had a period of recovery from your addiction, from your mental health issue, what has been different? What have you done differently? What were the warning signs that you were backsliding? What things triggered your backsliding? As you begin to become more aware of those things, then you can address them before they end up causing a problem. So the last activity. Spend another 20 minutes. Identify all the times you've tried to change and been successful, even if only for a few hours. What did you do? What did you stop? Doing this will give you clues about what tools and motivations can work for you. We want to build on those strengths, even if it only worked for 30 minutes. Okay, let's see how we can modify that strategy, whatever strategy it was, and see if we can make it work for an hour or half a day or even a day. Change is gradual. Change is incremental. But if you start with something that you know works, then you can build on that.