So, as I mentioned, I had my last therapy session last week. While there, I mentioned that I was interested in coming up with a flow chart of sorts to try and account for the different places people are with their weight loss or compulsive overeating.

For example, so far I see the questions being something along the lines of:

1. Do you need to lose weight?
2. Do you want to lose weight?
3. Do you know what to do?
4. Are you doing that?
5. … and so on …

At that point, my therapist mentioned that I should look into the stages of change concept developed by Prochaska and DiClemente. According to the model, there are five stages:

• pre-contemplation
• contemplation
• determination
• action
• maintenance

A quick Google search found this interview with DiClemente:

[The Transtheoretical Model of Change is] a model of how people move through the process of making intentional behavioral changes in their lives. It really focuses on how people change. What we have outlined are a series of stages of change that people go through to make a change and sustain it. The model came from the work that my major professor was doing at the University of Rhode Island in the early 1980s, and my dissertation. What we have done is create steps to outline this process of change that seem more understandable, that identify critical tasks in order to make change happen and to sustain it.

By understanding where people are in this process it may help us move people forward better. When we first began working in this area, most interventions both in health and in psychotherapy were very action-oriented, but most of the people coming into treatment were not ready to change. They were in earlier stages of change. These individuals need to move out of what we call “pre-contemplation” to “contemplation,” where they begin a risk reward analysis. Then they need to move into what we call the preparation stage were they have to build their commitment and a sustainable plan. Then they have to implement the plan, which represents the action phase and takes at least three to six months before the change or new behavior can be integrated into a lifestyle.

If this is interesting to you, I’d check out this fairly detailed explanation of the model. I’m filing this now mostly for future reference. More later when I get a chance to dive in.