Did you know that your thoughts have a direct influence on your emotions and behavior?
Indeed, this relationship and the behavioral activation technique are so significant that scientific studies show this technique alone is even more effective than cognitive techniques for reducing depression symptoms 1.
Let me give you an example of how this works:
When you have a positive thought like: "Today is going to be a great day," a positive emotion is also triggered in you - happiness or excitement.
The opposite is also true: when you have a negative thought like: "My life will never get better," negative feelings become present, such as sadness or anxiety.
All of this will also influence how you behave, without you even realizing it.
Looking at the first example, the positive thought, you'll notice an improvement in your willingness to socialize with others or complete routine tasks.
In the second scenario, you'll see that negative thoughts trigger negative emotions, which in turn generate negative behaviors, such as always avoiding situations that might cause stress or not wanting to work.
In the image below you can see how this relationship works:
Think about your daily activities and how they make you feel, positively or negatively, like this:
When I cook for my family I feel happy."
When I give up on going to a party, I feel sad."
It's important that you understand these feelings to identify the behaviors behind them, since they may be on autopilot.
In the second statement, for example, a related behavior could be you immediately refusing an invitation to socialize, trying to avoid the feeling of sadness if you want to back out at the last minute.
Little by little, what can happen is that you distance yourself more and more from pleasant activities, feel worse, and have increasingly negative thoughts.
This is how a vicious cycle is established.
How do you break this cycle? By activating your behavior!
To apply this technique, follow these steps:
- Observe the feelings caused in you by all the activities you engage in and write them down somewhere you can review later.
- Also recall activities you used to do that brought you pleasurable feelings and write them down.
- Create a weekly plan including these pleasurable activities in your routine. You can start slowly, with one scheduled activity per week, and gradually add more.
- Don't limit yourself to elaborate activities like