How to Write a Blog When Your Brain Does Not Want to and Other Behavioral Activations

The title is how I am feeling write now (yes, that was a pun. You may laugh). But sometimes you must do things you don’t want to do in order to gain the motivation to work on other tasks. The idea behind doing an action to gain motivation is called Behavioral Activation, or BA for short. Most people tend to think they will get motivated to do what they want to do, when the opposite is usually true. Motivation doesn’t come to you; an action takes place and then motivation follows.

I spent about 20 minutes staring at a blank page willing myself to write but I was not motivated. It took walking around and finishing a snack before I had the motivation to sit and focus on this blog. But what does this have to do with therapy?

BAs are good in daily life to get motivated but especially helpful for those with depression. Depression often decreases motivation, sucks energy, and steals fun and interest from things that were once enjoyable for people. Well, if depression takes all this from people, then it needs to be added back. And if we know that motivation comes after action, then creating a plan to complete actions will bring that motivation back.

For example, a depressed person may stay in bed all day looking at their phone and not interacting with anyone. A BA will create a plan to have that person get up, walk around, talk to someone, make food, brush their teeth, go outside, etc. The plan will look like this: Take a walk around the block once per week. Text one friend once per day. Cook lunch three times per week. Or read for 10 minutes daily.

These small tasks will slowly increase in frequency or subjective difficulty as they are completed. These tasks also lead to other tasks to be completed that are not on the list. For example, cooking lunch may lead to cleaning the dishes or going grocery shopping.

There are numerous different BAs and should be tailored to the individual. A therapist and client will work together to create a plan and goals to track progress. This is a simple tool yet very powerful when helping someone with depression, or anyone with low motivation. So, give it a shot! Get up and complete a small task and see which tasks follow. And if you have depression or know someone who does, contact us to start your behavioral activation journey!