Learning The Six Stages of Change

Before you begin making modifications in your life, it may be useful to understand your present stage of change.

The Stages of Change Model (SCM), originally developed in the late 1970s and early 1980s by James Prochaska, Ph.D. and Carlo DiClemente, Ph.D. at the University of Rhode Island, can serve to identify the mind/body stages we go through when we are engaged in a change process.

The SCM has been applied to a broad range of behaviors including weight loss, injury prevention, overcoming alcohol, behavioral changes, and drug problems among others. The idea behind the SCM is that behavior change does not happen in one step. Rather, people tend to progress through different stages on their way to successful change. It is important to note that each of us progresses through the stages at our own rate.

In each of the stages, a person must assess a different set of issues and tasks that relate to changing behavior. Understanding your current stage of change is beneficial when you are ready to make changes or modifications to your behavior.

Each person must decide for himself or herself when a stage is completed and when it is time to move on to the next stage. This decision must come from the individual.

The Stages of Change are:

• Precontemplation - Not yet acknowledging that there is a problem behavior that needs to be changed
• Contemplation - Acknowledging that there is a problem but not yet ready or sure of wanting to make a change
• Preparation - Getting ready to change
• Action - Changing behavior
• Maintenance - Maintaining the behavior change
• Relapse - Returning to older behaviors and abandoning the new changes

Source: Marc F. Kern, Ph.D., www.addictioninfo.com

First Stage of Change - Precontemplation

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