Behavior Modification

Sally, a 41-year-old woman with a history of yo-yo dieting, is currently 40 pounds overweight and has not exercised in over a year. She said that she feels somewhat lost, has the impression of being stuck in her job and is lonely. To help Sally, I would promote a behavior change approach based on positive psychology. This would help her not only achieve her physical fitness goals but also her mental and psychological health: Behavior Modification.

Assessing Explanatory Style and Optimism

First, I would start with Martin Seligman’s Optimism Test in order to assess Sally’s explanatory style. The test assesses her inclination to personalize the failures, generalize them across different domains of life and perceive them as permanent (Dorotik-Nana, 2018). Consequently, she may score high in pessimism as much as she feels that she is stuck and lost.

It is important to identify this because being pessimistic often results in a lack of resilience as well as failure to achieve set goals. For example, if Sally sees exceptions to weight loss as personal incompetence, then she will be discouraged from continuing to pull through. Addressing this early allows me to incorporate an emotionally positive training plan that builds on such progression and encourages hope.

Strengths Identification and Activation

By taking the VIA Brief Strength Inventory with Sally, I would identify her signature strengths, for instance, perseverance, curiosity or love of learning. When people apply their strengths in their lives, they have improved well-being (Littman-Ovadia et al., 2021).

For example, I would ask questions such as “In what capacity will you be able to persevere through the barriers?” or “How can your curiosity turn the attempts at new types of physical activity into interest? It is important since it helps increase self-worth and encouragement by removing the focus on disability and instead concentrating on strengths.

Building Tolerance for Uncertainty

Sally’s emotional stagnation may stem from a low tolerance for uncertainty. I would assess this by asking her to fill in the uncertainty avoidance scale. If she gets a high score, I will take her through the uncertainty brainstorming exercise to share the fact that letting go of certain expectations gives room for other possibilities (Reis-Dennis et al., 2021). For instance, she would envision alternative outcomes to perceived life setbacks and adjust her current state of dissatisfaction with the view to new pathways of personal development.

Setting Meaningful and Manageable Goals

The technique of chunking, breaking up long-term goals into short achievable actions, would be something that I would implement to begin the process of sustainable behavior change. For example, instead of planning to lose weight of 40 pounds at once, Sally should focus on daily goals such as 10 minutes of walking or preparing a healthy meal (Kim, 2020). It decreases the chance of being overwhelmed and elevates her chances of gaining early wins, something that is critical to laying the foundation for lasting behavior change and boosting self-confidence.

Enhancing Positive Emotion and Social Connection

Sally’s social isolation is a significant barrier. I would assist her in conducting the relationship litmus test to determine who in her life is supportive. At the same time, activities that include listing three things she is grateful for every day will help her enhance her positive effect and decrease depressive cognitions (Komase et al., 2021). This exercise of letting go of projections could also be useful for her to feel more comfortable when being vulnerable and interacting with other people.

Finding Meaning and Flow

In order to make the process more engaging, I would recommend that Sally take a mental detour and focus on some fun childhood memories and practices she used to enjoy (Dorotik-Nana, 2018). If she once enjoyed dancing, then enrolling in a beginner’s dancing class could help reignite her passion and, at the same time, exercise.

In the same way, it is possible to ask Sally to fill out the volunteer test. For example, if money were not objective, what would you do to spend your time? This will bring forth more purposeful activities that will add to Sally’s intrinsic motivation.

Conclusively, the positive behavior change program that I would build for Sally would include behavior modification and positive psychology intervention through assessment of explanatory style, activation of strength, enhancing tolerance to uncertainty, encouragement of achievable goals, cultivation of gratitude and meaning, and making a life engaging. This comprehensive and client-centered approach is effective at promoting behavioral and emotional change and encourages Sally to avoid the client’s stagnating habits and create sustainable health for herself.

References

Dorotik-Nana, C. (2018). Behavior modification (1st ed.). International Sports Sciences Association. https://online.vitalsource.com/books/BMC01S1807

Kim, J. Y. (2020). Optimal diet strategies for weight loss and weight loss maintenance. Journal of Obesity & Metabolic Syndrome, 30(1), 20–31. https://doi.org/10.7570/jomes20065

Komase, Y., Watanabe, K., Hori, D., Nozawa, K., Hidaka, Y., Iida, M., Imamura, K., & Kawakami, N. (2021). Effects of gratitude intervention on mental health and well‐being among workers: A systematic review. Journal of Occupational Health, 63(1). https://doi.org/10.1002/1348-9585.12290

Littman-Ovadia, H., Dubreuil, P., Meyers, M. C., & Freidlin, P. (2021). Editorial: VIA character strengths: Theory, research and practice. Frontiers in Psychology, 12. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.653941

Reis-Dennis, S., Gerrity, M. S., & Geller, G. (2021). Tolerance for uncertainty and professional development: A normative analysis. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 36(8), 2408–2413. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-020-06538-y

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Week 5 Assignment:
The information covered in this week’s lecture and reading assignments will help you answer the following assignment. Your answers should be concise, complete, no less than 300 words, and typed in a Microsoft Word document. When you are finished, upload the Word document to be graded using the dropbox below.

This week’s assignment:

• Describe the steps you would take with the following client: Sally is a 41 year old woman with a history of yo-yo dieting. Currently, she is 40 pounds overweight, and hasn’t exercised in over a year. She lives alone, has few close relationships and feels “stuck” at work. She describes herself as “somewhat lost” and would like to feel better about herself and her physical fitness.
  

  Behavior Modification

Reading Assignment:
Reference & Cite:

• LMFT, C.D. M. (2018). Behavior Modification. Lionel University Content. https://online.vitalsource.com/books/BMC01S1807
  • Unit 4 Part 2 Pages 77-106