Name of Concept
Stages of Change
Synonyms
Introduction
Stages of change were discovered as part of a pursuit to integrate a field that had fragmented into more than 150 theories of psychotherapy. Through interviews, a group of ordinary people revealed the stages of change they had experienced in their struggles to get free from smoking, the most deadly of addictions. The concept of stages was not in any of the 150 theories, but was recognized as a missing link that could integrate change processes identified in a comparative analysis of 25 leading theories.
Theoretical Context
Leaders at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) sounded an alarm that increasing fragmentation in what they labeled the Psychotherapy Jungleplaced the field in harm’s way. NIMH did not know which theories should be funded for outcomes research. More importantly, insurance companies were becoming increasingly confused over which therapies were fads and fashions...
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References
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Levesque, D. A., Ciavatta, M. M., Castle, P. H., Prochaska, J. M., & Prochaska, J. O. (2012). Evaluation of a stage-based, computer-tailored adjunct to usual care for domestic violence offenders. Psychology of Violence, 2(4), 368–684.
Prochaska, J. O., Evers, K. E., Castle, P. H., Johnson, J. L., Prochaska, J. M., Rula, E. Y., Coberley, C., & Pope, J. E. (2012). Enhancing multiple domains of well-being by decreasing multiple health risk behaviors: A randomized clinical trial. Population Health Management, 15(5), 276–286.
Prochaska, J.O., & Prochaska, J.M. (2016). Changing to Thrive. Center city, MN: Hazelden Publishing.
Smith, M. L., Glass, G. V., & Miller, T. I. (1980). The benefits of psychotherapy. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
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Prochaska, J.O., Prochaska, J.M. (2016). Stages of Change in Couple and Family Therapy. In: Lebow, J., Chambers, A., Breunlin, D. (eds) Encyclopedia of Couple and Family Therapy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-15877-8_704-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-15877-8_704-1
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Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-15877-8
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