What are the “stages of change” and how do they apply to behavioral addiction treatment?
Stages of Change’ was developed by Prochaska & DiClemente. It basically was a basis of research about cigarette smoking literature, and it helps cognitive behaviour therapists, in particular, understand the motivation of an individual who’s coming in for treatment. The first stage in the ‘Stages of Change’ is called precontemplation, meaning the client just says, “Well, I don’t really think I have a problem.” In the twelve steps of the disease model, we call that denial. “I don’t really have a problem. You think I have a problem, then that’s your problem.” The next stage is contemplation. Contemplation is, “Yeah, I’ve got a problem, but I don’t know if I want to do anything about it.” That’s often the case. Lots of people come in and say, or they say to their spouse, “I know I have a problem, but I don’t know if I really want to go through all the misery, or all that stuff to stop.” Some people stay in the contemplation phase for years. Sometimes they even go to the grave in the contem
