BEHAVIOURAL ACTIVATION ( BA ) 1 [MENTAL HEALTH]

BEHAVIOURAL ACTIVATION ARE THREE STAGES :

Stage(1) Self-monitoring

Stage (2) Functional analysis

Stage (3) Activity Scheduling

INTRODUCTION

Article 1

In behavioural activation we are interested in the function of the things you do( i.e. your behaviours) . By function we mean the role that your behaviours play in keeping your depression going even if you are not fully aware of them and their impact on your mood.

One of the reason why depression persists is that you are experiencing fewer situations from which you might get some pleasure or good feelings. We refer to these as positively reinforcing situations: for eample , spending some time with a friend, having a long soak in the bath , enjoying a meal , walking in the park, making something- any activity that makes you feel positive about yourself . In general because you feel positive when doing this kind of activity, you tend to repeat it.

When you feel troubled and down, a nature response is to avoid things as we have already discussed. So for example, if you believe that you will feel uncomfortable talking to someone about a difficult topic , you might avoid that person or at least avoid the topic. You will probably then feel relieved . This is not necessarily a problem, unless your feelings of relief when avoiding this are so strong that you keep on avoiding it. This is called negative reinforcement , which refers to the relief we get from avoiding situation where we expect to feel bad. What happens is that the more you feel relief because you avoid , the more you continue to avoid.

I will complete in article 2 soon