Summary and Review of Changing for Good: A Revolutionary Six Stage Program for Overcoming Bad Habits and Moving Your Life Positively Forward

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

            To quote this book directly, “WELCOME OR NOT, change is unavoidable.” The book, Changing for Good was written by not only one but three practicing psychiatrists. James O. Prochaska, John C. Norcross, and Carlo C. Diclemente spent over twelve years and conducted over fifty different studies on thousands of participating individuals to find exactly what it is that causes people to intentionally change. Their research has been said to have caused a revolution in the in the science of behavior change. The old way of describing change was one that viewed change as dramatic and discrete, this viewpoint causes people to enroll in brief programs in which they are expected to change their habits and chose healthier lifestyles. This theory is flawed because that is only one step of six that a person must go through before they can change behavior for good.

            As we all know major lifestyle changes are hard and not very easy to accept. That is what makes this book so interesting. The writers have defined the six step model in this book to first identify what stage of change the reader is in and secondly to complete that desired change and to not have a relapse. It is stated in this book that everyone can change. It sounds silly but some people may think that change has an expensive price tag on it because of groups or therapy. This is not entirely true, self changers, people who want to change and do so without professional help, are able to benefit from the text as well.

            For those that may be thinking that this book is lame, this next paragraph could change your opinion. The six stages are proven steps that everyone takes in every choice that they make in life. This book walks you through the steps of change like a map. The steps are: Pre-contemplation, Contemplation, Preparation, Action, Maintenance and Termination. An example could be someone who is trying to eat better. The Pre-contemplation stage would be that person telling himself or herself internally that just one treat won’t hurt them. When someone is in this stage it is hard to get out without help from someone. The next stage would be Contemplation in which he or she would try to reason that they want the snack but don’t need it. In this stage a person wants to change but is still resisting. Next he or she would be in the Preparation stage where the person is still not all the way ready to say no to the treat but is confident in not taking it. As you can see this is the third step and still the right choice is not made. Next in the Action stage, the person would at this point not take the snack. Finally they said no but this is not the end of the road. The Maintenance stage is where things get really hard, this is pretty much where the person would fail and relapse back to eating unhealthy again. But if they can get through that Termination is next, this is where the person would never eat unhealthy again. This one can go many ways, never again or sometimes is usually the end result of this stage.