Behavioral activation is used to treat mood disorders, especially depression; as people become depressed, they get engaged in increased loneliness and avoidance, which can have adverse effects on them. Behavioral activation aims to work with depressed people to help reduce their loneliness and avoidance and engage them in activities that can improve their mood. Being depressed, we are more likely to be less active, which leads to poor performance, and our mood goes down because of our low performance. Behavioral activation helps us to get out of the vicious cycles.
How It Works
In behavioral activation, you make a list of specific goals and work to meet them. These goals are some fun activities related to the life you have dreamed of. Like, if you want to be a compassionate person, you can choose goals that focus on helping others, like donating to charity, helping a friend, to name a few. Behavioral activation enhances your interaction with beneficial activities. Especially when you feel depressed or anxious, you must do activities that make you feel enjoyable. Doing so will make your mood positive and pleasant, as a change in behaviour directly affects your mood. Behavioral activation is all about making your life enjoyable and meaningful, it includes the following steps:
- Learning about the vicious cycle of several disorders like depression and PTSD to feel better
- Daily monitoring your activities to understand your mood and activities relation
- Identifying easier activities that make you feel better and improve your mood
- Doing simple activities and actively engaging in specific activities to feel pleasant
- Rewarding yourself for little efforts you made to feel enjoyable.
Using Behavioral Activation
Behaviour activation is a simple skill, but it becomes difficult sometimes, especially when you are not motivated. There are various ways to make behavioral activation more effective.
1. Activity Identification
When choosing activities for behaviour activation, think about what is more important to you, what you want to do. If you come up with something that doesn’t interest you, it’s hard to feel connected to the activities you are involved in, and it won't feel better. Choose the activities that make you feel pleasant and are about your desires. So, when you have anxiety or a bad mood, it will motivate you to feel better.
2. Specific Activities and Progress Measurement
Choose activities where you can monitor and compare your progress. Like can you remember if you have completed a task or not? If not, then the activity is not good to go. For example, you have chosen “organized” as an activity. So, what do you want to manage, or what do you mean by the organization? If you organize your bills, does it mean you have done that task, or do you need to manage more? Instead, you will choose to organize the kitchen as an activity. The completion of such activities can be measured easily. Measurable and specific activities can boost your motivation in behavioral activity.
3. List your Activities
Behavioral activation can be challenging to get started when feeling anxious or frustrated. If you are less motivated, you need to get moving to avoid avoidance behaviours so that it doesn’t cause depression or anxiety. You can easily do this by sorting your to-do list from easy to hard activities. After compiling this list, start with simple activities that you can easily do. This way, you will be motivated and don’t stress yourself. Also, ensure that behavioral activity does not cause you stress. And by starting with simple activities, you can also get motivated, making it easier to deal with harder activities.
4. Multiple Activities
You won’t like the behaviour activation to be boring, so choose various activities to avoid boredom. Choose different activities in different areas of life like personal care, relationships, work, and friends. Your life will become more balanced with various activities, and you will be more likely to use behavioral activation to deal with depression and anxiety.
5. Enlist Others Support
When it comes to behavioral activation if you find it challenging to be motivated, seek help from others. Talk to your family member or friend. Tell them about your activities and let them know about your weekly goals. Your family member or friend can assist you in activity completion or monitor your weekly performance to see how you are doing. They can increase your motivation and make you feel good.
6. Mindfulness
Some people can still have avoidance behaviour after engaging in active and pleasurable activities. They may gossip about the past, get stuck in their heads, or be worried. Then it becomes difficult to connect them with positive and engaging activities. Being mindful ensures that you are actively engaging in your activities in behavioral activation.
7. Increase your Activities Gradually
Behavioral activation is a great way to deal with PTSD and emotional numbness symptoms, including behavioral avoidance. Also, behavioral activation can reduce depression risk, and it helps in depression treatment. Especially if you are feeling anxious or less motivated, you need to set appropriate goals and do not rush to achieve them; you need to increase your goals gradually. Start with a few activities and gradually increase the number of activities. Even a few activities can significantly affect your mood.
8. Reward Yourself
Don’t forget to reward yourself for the little accomplishments you make. Recognize your efforts and achievements. It can motivate you to move forward, especially when you are in a bad mood. You can use behavioral activity to make your life fulfilling and meaningful with a few activities.
JC Carmona
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