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The fight-or-flight response is your body’s natural, automatic reaction to stress or danger. It triggers physiological changes, such as a faster heart rate and tenser muscles, that prepare your body to deal with the source of the stress. This can be helpful in the short term, but if it goes on too long without giving your body a chance to relax, it can have negative effects on your physical and mental health.

How the Fight-or-Flight Response Works

The fight-or-flight response, also known as the acute stress response, refers to the physiological reaction that occurs when in the presence of something mentally or physically frightening or stressful. This response is triggered by the release of hormones that prepare your body to either stay and deal with a threat or run away to safety.

The three stages of fight-or-flight are:

• The alarm stage: During this stage, the central nervous system is ramped up, preparing your body to fight or flee.
• The resistance stage: This is the stage in which the body attempts to normalize and recover from the initial elevated fight-or-flight response.
• The exhaustion stage: If the first two stages occur repeatedly over time, such as when under chronic stress, the body can feel exhausted and begin to break down.

Physiologic Changes

The sudden release of hormones activates the body’s sympathetic nervous system in response to acute stress. Fight-or-flight response hormones include adrenocorticotropic and corticotropin-releasing hormones.

These hormones cause the sympathetic nervous system to stimulate the pituitary and adrenal glands, triggering the release of catecholamines, including adrenaline, noradrenaline, and cortisol.

This chain of reactions results in various reactions, including increased:

• Heart rate
• Blood pressure
• Breathing rate

Your body can stay in fight-or-flight for minutes to hours after the threat is gone, which is how long it takes for the parasympathetic nervous system to return to pre-arousal levels.

Why Do We Have It?

The term “fight-or-flight” represents the choices our ancient ancestors had when faced with danger in their environment: to either fight or flee. In either case, the physiological and psychological response to stress prepares the body to react to the danger.

In the 1920s, American physiologist Walter Cannon was the first to describe the fight-or-flight response. Cannon realized that a chain of rapidly occurring reactions inside the body helped to mobilize the body’s resources to deal with threatening circumstances.

Today, the fight-or-flight response is recognized as part of the first stage of Hans Selye’s general adaptation syndrome, a theory describing the stress response.

How to Tell If You’re Having a Fight-or-Flight Response

Physical signs that can indicate that your fight-or-flight response has kicked in include:

• Dilated pupils: In times of danger, the body prepares itself to become more aware of its surroundings. Dilation of the pupils allows more light into the eyes, resulting in better vision of your surrounding area.
• Pale or flushed skin: During fight-or-flight, blood flow to the surface areas of the body is reduced, while flow to the muscles, brain, legs, and arms is increased. Paleness or alternating between a pale and flushed face as blood rushes to the head and brain is common. The body’s blood clotting ability also increases to prevent excess blood loss in the event of injury.
• Rapid heart rate and breathing: Heartbeat and respiration rate increase to provide the body with the energy and oxygen needed to fuel a rapid response to danger.
• Trembling: The muscles tense and become primed for action, which can cause trembling or shaking.

Why It Can Be Helpful

The fight-or-flight response plays a critical role in dealing with stress and danger in our environment. When we are under threat, the response prepares the body to either fight or flee. By priming your body for action, you are better prepared to perform under pressure.

The stress created by the situation can actually be helpful, making it more likely that you will cope effectively with the threat.

• Better performance: This type of stress can help you perform better in situations where you are under pressure to do well, such as at work or school.
• Inspires prosocial actions: Some experts suggest that the fight-or-flight response may even benefit when the urge to fight others in an attempt to harm them is transformed into the urge to fight to protect them. This may be beneficial when the fight-or-flight response is triggered by negative emotions such as anger and fear.
• Improves chances of survival: In life-threatening situations, the fight-or-flight response plays a critical role in survival. By gearing you up to fight or flee, it makes you more likely to survive the danger.

When It Becomes Harmful

While the fight-or-flight response happens automatically, that doesn’t mean that it is always accurate. Sometimes we respond in this way even when there is no real threat.

This is because the fight-or-flight response can be triggered by both real and imaginary threats. Phobias are good examples of how the fight-or-flight response might be falsely triggered in the face of a perceived threat.

Constantly being in a state of fight-or-flight, such as when facing repeated stressors, can also be harmful to your health. Chronic stress can increase your risk of:

Common Examples

The fight-or-flight response can happen in the face of imminent physical danger, such as when encountering a growling dog during your morning jog. It can also be the result of a psychological threat, such as preparing to give a big presentation at school or work.

Another example of the fight-or-flight response is if a person who is terrified of heights has to go to the top floor of a skyscraper to attend a meeting. Their body might go on high alert, with their heartbeat and respiration rate increasing. If the response is severe, it can lead to a panic attack.

How to Calm Down After Fight or Flight Kicks In

Understanding the body’s natural fight-or-flight response is one way to help cope with such situations. When you notice that you are becoming tense, you can start looking for ways to calm down and relax your body.

Ways to calm the fight-or-flight response include:

The stress response is one of the major topics studied in the rapidly growing field of health psychology. Health psychologists are interested in helping people find ways to combat stress and live healthier, more productive lives.

By learning more about the fight-or-flight response, psychologists can help people explore new ways to deal with their natural reactions to stress.

Self-concept is the image we have of ourselves. It is influenced by many forces, including our interaction with the important people in our lives. It is how we perceive our behaviors, abilities, and unique characteristics. For example, beliefs such as “I am a good friend” or “I am a kind person” are part of an overall self-concept.

Why Self-Concept Matters

Our self-concept impacts how we respond to life, so a well-developed self-concept helps us respond in ways that are more positive and beneficial for us and those around us. One way it does this is by enabling us to recognize our worth. A well-developed self-concept also helps keep us from internalizing negative feedback from others.

Self-concept also affects how we interact and communicate with others. For example, how you communicate with others is often tied to your self-concept and how you relate to your social group. If your social group communicates a certain way, you would likely choose to communicate that way as well. Studies on teens have connected high self-concept clarity with more open communication with parents.

What Are Some Examples?

Examples of self-concept include:

• How you view your personality traits, such as whether you are an extrovert or introvert
• How you see your roles in life, such as whether you feel that being a parent, sibling, friend, and partner are important parts of your identity
• The hobbies or passions that are important to your sense of identity, such as being a sports enthusiast or belonging to a particular political party or religious group
• How you feel about your interactions with the world, such as whether you think that you are contributing to society

Our self-perception is important because it affects our motivations, attitudes, and behaviors. It also affects how we feel about the person we think we are, including whether we are competent or have self-worth.

Self-concept tends to be more malleable when we’re younger and still going through self-discovery and identity formation. As we age and learn who we are and what’s important to us, these self-perceptions become much more detailed and organized.

How Carl Rogers Explained Self-Concept

Humanist psychologist Carl Rogers believed that self-concept is made up of three distinct parts: ideal self, self-image, and self-esteem. His theory explains what it means when these parts are congruent or incongruent with reality, which impacts your self-concept.

Three Parts of Self-Concept

Rogers described the self-concept as being composed of three parts:

• Ideal self: The ideal self is the person you want to be. This person has the attributes or qualities you are either working toward or want to possess. It’s who you envision yourself to be if you were exactly the person you wanted to be.
• Self-image: Self-image refers to how you see yourself at this moment in time. Physical characteristics, personality traits, and social roles affect your self-image.
• Self-esteem: How much you like, accept, and value yourself contributes to your self-concept. Self-esteem can be affected by a number of factors, including how others see you, how you think you compare to others, and your role in society.

Incongruence and Congruence

Self-concept is not always aligned with reality. When it is aligned, it is said to be congruent. If there is a mismatch between how you see yourself (your self-image) and who you wish you were (your ideal self), your self-concept is incongruent. This incongruence can negatively affect self-esteem.

Rogers believed that incongruence has its earliest roots in childhood. When parents place conditions on their affection for their children (e.g., only expressing love if children “earn it” through certain behaviors and living up to the parents’ expectations), children begin to distort their memories of experiences that leave them feeling unworthy of their parents’ love.

Unconditional love, on the other hand, helps to foster congruence. Children who experience such love—also referred to as family love—feel no need to continually distort their memories in order to believe that other people will love and accept them as they are.

How It Develops Over Time

Self-concept develops, in part, through our interaction and observation of others. In addition to family members and close friends, other people in our community and in the media can contribute to our self-identity.

• People who believe in you: For instance, one study found that the more a teacher believes in a high-performing student’s abilities, the higher that student’s self-concept. (Interestingly, no such association was found with lower-performing students.)
• The characters we identify with: Self-concept can also be developed through the stories we hear. For example, one study found that female readers who were “deeply transported” into a story about a leading character with a traditional gender role had a more feminist self-concept than those who weren’t as moved by the story. Thus, relating to and identifying with the character may affect your emotional response and confirm or alter your own ideas about yourself.
• The media: Both mass media and social media play a role in self-concept development. When these media promote certain ideals, we’re more likely to make them our own. The more often these ideals are presented, the more they affect our self-identity and self-perception.
• Our culture: Different cultures have different beliefs. They have different ideas of how dependent or independent one should be, as well as religious beliefs and views on socioeconomic development. All of these cultural norms influence self-concept by providing the structure of what is expected within that society and how one sees oneself in relation to others.

Can You Really Change Your Self-Concept?

Self-concept is not static, meaning that it can change. Our environment plays a role in this process:

• Places we are exposed to, especially those that hold a lot of meaning to us, actively contribute to our future self-concept through how we relate these environments to ourselves and how society relates to them.
• Self-concept can also change based on the people with whom we interact. This is particularly true for individuals in our lives who are in leadership roles. They can impact the collective self (the self in social groups) and the relational self (the self in relationships).
• In some cases, a medical diagnosis can change self-concept by helping people understand why they feel the way they do, such as someone receiving an autism diagnosis later in life, finally providing clarity as to why they feel different.

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Alternative Ways to Think About Self-Concept

As with many topics within psychology, several other theorists have proposed different ways of thinking about self-concept.

Social Identity

Social psychologist Henri Tajfel developed social identity theory, which states that self-concept is composed of two essential parts:

• Personal identity: The traits and other characteristics that make you unique
• Social identity: Who you are based on your membership in social groups, such as sports teams, religions, political parties, or social class

This theory states that our social identity influences our self-concept, thus affecting our emotions and behaviors. If we’re playing sports, for instance, and our team loses a game, we might feel sad for the team (emotion) or act out against the winning team (behavior).

Multiple Dimensions

Psychologist Bruce A. Bracken had a slightly different theory and believed that self-concept was multidimensional, consisting of six independent traits:

In 1992, Bracken developed the Multidimensional Self-Concept Scale, a comprehensive assessment that evaluates each of these six elements of self-concept in children and adolescents.

Identity versus role confusion is the fifth stage of ego in psychologist Erik Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development. This stage occurs during adolescence between the ages of approximately 12 and 18. During this stage, adolescents explore their independence and develop a sense of self.

Understanding Identity vs. Role Confusion

• Psychosocial conflict: Identity vs. role confusion
• Major question: “Who am I?”
• Basic virtue: Fidelity
• Important event(s): Social relationships

Identity vs. role confusion is a stage characterized by asking, “Who am I?” and learning more about one’s goals, values, and beliefs.

According to Erikson, people progress through several stages as they grow and change throughout life. During each stage, everyone faces a developmental conflict that must be resolved to successfully develop the primary virtue of that stage. Erikson was interested in how social interaction and relationships affect development and growth.

What Do Identity and Role Confusion Mean?

As they transition from childhood to adulthood, teens may begin to feel confused or insecure about themselves and how they fit into society. As they seek to establish a sense of self, teens may experiment with different roles, activities, and behaviors. According to Erikson, this is important to the process of forming a strong identity and developing a sense of direction in life.

One of the main elements of Erikson’s psychosocial stage theory is the development of ego identity. It is the conscious sense of self that we develop through social interaction, which is constantly changing due to new experiences and information we acquire in our daily interactions with others. 

Identity

Erikson defines identity as a “fundamental organizing principle which develops constantly throughout the lifespan.”

Identity involves the experiences, relationships, beliefs, values, and memories that make up a person’s subjective sense of self. This helps create a continuous self-image that remains fairly constant even as new aspects of the self are developed or strengthened over time. Identity provides:

• Self-sameness: A sense of continuity within the self and in interaction with others
• Uniqueness: A frame to differentiate between self and interaction with others
• Psychosocial development: Mental and physical health for adolescents

During the identity vs. role confusion stage, the conflict is centered on developing a personal identity. Completing this stage leads to a strong sense of self throughout life.

Role Confusion

Kids who are not allowed to explore and test out different identities might be left with what Erikson referred to as role confusion, which can result in the following:

• Being unsure of who you are and where you fit
• Drifting from one job or relationship to another
• Feeling disappointed and confused about your place in life

Other Influences on Identity

Some more recent theories have focused on the importance of social identity and how those identities, and the intersection of those identities, influence the development of individual identity and roles.

One such theory is known as the “Big 8.” It describes socially constructed identities that are defined by factors including social, physical, or mental characteristics. Some examples of social identities include:

Why Having a Strong Identity Matters

• Commitment: Resolving the crisis at this stage of development involves committing to a particular identity. This might involve committing to a career path, deciding what social groups to associate with, and even developing a sense of personal style.
• Self-confidence: Those who are able to develop a strong sense of identity are better able to have self-confidence, or a sense of trust in their abilities, qualities, and judgments.
• Sense of independence: Those who receive proper encouragement and reinforcement through personal exploration will emerge from this stage with a strong sense of self and a feeling of independence and control. Those who remain unsure of their beliefs and desires will remain insecure and confused about themselves and the future.
• Fidelity: Those who succeed in developing a strong identity also forge fidelity, a psychological virtue characterized by the ability to relate to others and form genuine relationships. This ability plays an important role in the upcoming stage known as intimacy versus isolation.
• Better mental health and relationships: Research has shown that teens who have a strong sense of identity have better mental health. They are also more likely to have good relationships with their peers and have better emotional and psychological well-being.

What Shapes Your Sense of Identity

There are various factors that contribute to whether a person forms a strong identity:

• Friends
• Family
• Schoolmates
• Other social groups
• Societal trends
• Pop culture

Stages of Identity Development

Influenced in part by Erikson’s theory, psychologist James Marcia described four identity statuses. These statuses represent different points in the development of identity.

In Marcia’s theory, identity forms due to exploring different identity alternatives and then making commitments to different ideas and values. These four statuses are:  

• Identity diffusion (role confusion): At this point, a person has not explored or made identity commitments. 
• Identity foreclosure: This involves committing to an identity without exploring other options, often as a result of peer pressure, conformity, cultural expectations, or parental pressure.
• Identity moratorium: This is a period of active exploration where an individual tries new things and seeks out alternatives.
• Identity achievement: This status involves having explored different options and then making a commitment to an identity. This does not necessarily end with adolescence. It can ultimately be a long process that creates self-awareness and a strong sense of self.

Ways to Build a Stronger Sense of Identity

No matter where you are in your life, there are things you can do to help build a stronger sense of identity. For example

• Consider your values: Thinking about what your values are helps solidify your identity. Core values are those things that are really important and meaningful to you and that motivate you and guide your decisions.
• Learn about yourself: It’s important to spend time alone to get to know yourself better. Those quiet moments can help you focus on your priorities and improve your sense of self.
• Practice self-compassion: Showing yourself kindness and compassion can help you better understand and accept your flaws and limitations.

What Happens When You Struggle With Role Confusion

Role confusion can have lasting consequences on a person’s life, including:

• Difficulties with commitment: A stable personal identity allows individuals to have better relationships with others.
• Worse mental health and well-being: Research has linked a strong sense of identity to better emotional and psychological well-being in adolescents.
• Weak sense of self: Role confusion has been found to lead to a weak sense of self.
• Lack of confidence: Poor self-identity can make it difficult for people to have confidence in themselves and their abilities.

How to Overcome Role Confusion and Find Direction

• Build on your strengths: Identify the areas in your life in which you excel, and take time to develop and build on those strengths. As you develop those skills even more, you may find other aspects of yourself that are also important to your identity.
• Try new things to discover what you like: Be open to trying new things and having new experiences. Think about your passions and interests. Brainstorm some ideas around things that excite you. Sometimes you might try things and decide you don’t like them. That’s also part of personal growth. It helps you clarify what matters to your identity and eliminates feelings of confusion.
• Make commitments and set goals: While you can set goals in any part of your life, consider thinking about some common areas like health, career, finances, and education. Having goals gives you a better sense of what you want to work toward and which aspirations are central to your sense of self.
• Participate in activities related to your interests: Whether church events or clubs for sports, take the initiative to become part of something that interests you. This might involve finding a new hobby, joining community groups, or even just getting together with friends to enjoy a shared pastime.

A Type A personality is characterized by traits like competitiveness, drive, ambition, and urgency. People with this personality type are achievement-oriented, fast-paced, and impatient. They are often good at reaching their goals, but they may also have increased stress and other health risks.

Understanding Type A Personality Traits

You may have heard people say they are “Type A.” When people say this, they likely mean they are ambitious, organized, perfectionistic, and high-achieving. Since researchers started studying Type A personality, beginning with cardiologists Meyer Friedman and Ray Rosenman in the 1950s, it’s become a household term.

While the term “Type A” is thrown around often, it’s not always fully known what specific characteristics make up Type A personality, even among experts. For some people, the term applies to rude and impatient people. Others see workaholics as Type A. Many see competitiveness as the main characteristic.

According to research, the following are the hallmark characteristics of Type A Behavior Pattern (TABP):

• Time urgency and impatience: Time urgency and impatience, as demonstrated by people who, among other things, get frustrated while waiting in line, interrupt others often, walk or talk at a rapid pace, and are always painfully aware of the time and how little they have to spare.
• Free-floating hostility or aggressiveness: Free-floating hostility or aggressiveness is an additional trait of TABP. It may manifest as impatience, rudeness, being easily upset over small things, or “having a short fuse,” for example.
• Competitiveness: People with Type A behavior feel the need to win at everything, from work to relationships, even if these activities aren’t inherently competitive.
• Strong achievement orientation: Type A people tend to get their feelings of self-worth from what they achieve. They are easily frustrated when they face setbacks or obstacles. They are primarily focused on finishing tasks and achieving their goals.
• Need for dominance: Many Type A people try to show dominance in business and personal interactions, disregarding the wishes and needs of others in favor of their own. They tend to take on leadership roles where they can take control of the group and ensure that things are done the way they want them to be.

Someone with a Type A personality may be very successful and achieve a lot in life. They may also be organized and efficient, both in their personal and professional life. However, they may become stressed more easily when things become chaotic. They might prioritize over-achieving over self-care.

How Situations Bring Out Type A Traits

While many personality traits, such as extroversion, are innate, most researchers believe that Type A personality characteristics are more of a reaction to environmental factors, or tendencies toward certain behaviors, and are influenced by situations, including culture and job structure.

For example, many jobs put heavy demands on time, making it necessary for workers to be very concerned with getting things done quickly to perform at work. Similarly, some workplaces put heavy penalties on mistakes, so efficiency and achievement become extremely important. Other jobs just create more stress, making people less patient, more stressed, and more prone to Type A behaviors.

Some people have a natural tendency toward being more intense. This tendency can be increased by environmental stress or reduced by conscious effort and lifestyle changes.

Health Risks Linked to Type A Personality Traits

There are certain characteristics associated with Type A personalities that can take a toll on health and lifestyle. Type A personalities may have challenges including:

• Hypertension: Although the relationship between personality types and high blood pressure is complex, there has been some association between hypertension and the vulnerability to stress that people with Type A personalities experience.
• Heart disease: Some research shows that TABP (specifically anger and hostility) may increase the risk of coronary heart disease. However, other analyses have failed to confirm this.
• Job stress: Type A people often have stressful, demanding jobs (and sometimes the jobs create the Type A behavior), which can lead to stress-related health problems.
• Social isolation: Those with TABP may alienate others or spend too much time on work and focus too little on relationships, putting them at risk for social isolation and the increased stress that comes with it.

How Type A Traits Compare to Other Personality Types

• Type A personality traits, including competitiveness, time urgency, and a tendency toward workaholism, can be beneficial for career success.
• Type B personalities tend to be less competitive. This doesn’t mean that Type Bs don’t like to achieve. They work hard and take pride in their accomplishments, but don’t attach the same stress to their outcomes if they don’t come in first or achieve the most. Type Bs are more creative and low-stress by nature. Fortunately, some of this relaxed perspective can be learned and developed.
• Type C personalities tend to be more passive; they may put the needs of others before their own and repress any negative emotions.
• Type D (the D is for “distressed”) is characterized by negative emotions like worry and an attempt to inhibit these emotions, while avoiding social interaction.

Each personality type can experience unique challenges that may cause stress and potentially negatively impact health. Fortunately, there are effective ways to cope with negativity, excessive worry, and inhibition.

Why Some Critics Say the Types Are Outdated

Research from the University of Toronto published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology suggests that categorizing people’s personalities into Type A, B, C, or D is an outdated practice.

Instead of considering the personalities as separate “types,” the researchers suggest it’s more useful to consider them as groups of traits that people possess.

For instance, to say that Type A personalities are at a greater risk for health problems is not accurate. It’s actually specific traits associated with Type A personalities—such as impatience, for instance—that can lead to higher stress levels, and in turn, put someone at a greater risk of health problems.

On the other hand, Type A personalities possess plenty of traits that promote good health—such as being achievement-oriented—which can lead to higher levels of success and happiness.

How to Manage Type A Personality

There’s nothing wrong with identifying as Type A. In fact, there are plenty of benefits. However, if you find that you’re prone to becoming over-stressed, overwhelmed, and exhausted by certain aspects of your personality, the following tips can help you gain a new approach that better serves your overall health.

Change Your Work Life

Alter certain factors in your work life to make your job less stressful and demanding and more rewarding. For example, you can try to enjoy the meaning you attach to your work rather than focusing primarily on outcomes.

It’s also helpful to find ways to strike a healthy work-life balance. Set boundaries around work time and the rest of your life so that you have more time to enjoy leisure time and hobbies.

Change Thought Patterns

Though it takes practice, you can change your thinking patterns to more positive ones. This helps you develop trust in yourself and those around you and can soften Type A tendencies.

For example, when you feel inadequate or make mistakes, focus more heavily on what you are doing well. When you find yourself using negative self-talk, talk to yourself the way you would a good friend.

Fake It ‘Til You Make It

Sometimes you can act your way into new habits. Even if you don’t always feel calm and serene, if you make a conscious choice to try to slow yourself down and be more patient with people, that behavior will most likely become more of a habit and begin to come more easily to you.

Start a Journal

The practice of keeping a journal has many proven benefits for your stress level and overall health. It can also be a helpful practice in softening Type A characteristics, especially if done right. To use your journal as an instrument of change:

• Keep a record of how many times you lose your temper in a day, treat people rudely, or feel overwhelmed by frustration. Becoming more aware of your tendencies and what triggers reactions can be a valuable step in changing your patterns.
• Write about your feelings. This helps you process them and takes some of the intensity from them, so that they are less consuming.
• Write about solutions. Solving problems on paper (rather than obsessing about them in your head) can help you to feel less overwhelmed by them. You can also look back through your journal to remember old ideas that might help solve new problems.

Face Your Fears

This may sound crazy, but a good way to work past Type A tendencies is to give yourself an extra dose of what frustrates you to show yourself that it’s not so bad. The more you expose yourself to such situations, the less distressing and intolerable they will seem.

For example, some therapists recommend that you pick long lines in the grocery store just to show yourself that you can survive the frustration of waiting. The threat of having to wait in a longer line may help you be more patient in a shorter one.

Make It a Game

When you’re frustrated while stuck in traffic, make a game out of it and count what frustrates you. The same can be done for life in general. If you see how many frustrating things you can playfully tally, you’ll almost look forward to people’s quirks.

Take a Breath

The next time you’re about to scream, why not take that deep breath and, instead, just breathe it out? When you feel you’re about to explode, a few deep, slow breaths can do wonders! Breathing exercises are a stress reliever you can use anywhere. Research has shown that these types of exercises can help reduce feelings of stress and anxiety.

Love Your Pets

Pets have many stress management and health benefits and can help provide you with the extra calm you need. Walking a dog can be relaxing and social, get you out into nature (or at least out of the office), and provide exercise (another stress reliever) as well.

Caring for an animal and receiving its unconditional love can connect you with the best parts of your humanity. Even watching aquarium fish can have a measurable effect on blood pressure.

Work in Your Garden

Getting out into the sunshine, beautifying your yard, and getting back in touch with nature are some of the benefits of gardening. It all adds up to some great stress relief. This tension-taming tool can reduce overall stress and teach you to take it easy a little more, softening your Type A tendencies.

Jungian archetypes are universal symbols and themes that represent some of the most fundamental human behaviors, emotions, and motivations. The Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung first introduced them, and they appear in myths, stories, art, and dreams in cultures all over the world. Understanding these archetypes can offer insight into personality patterns and how people relate to others.

The stages of change model explains how people move through different steps when they try to modify a behavior, such as starting to exercise more or quitting smoking. Developed by researchers James Prochaska and Carlo DiClemente, the six key stages follow the process of not being ready to change, thinking about change, getting ready to make the change, taking action, sticking with it, and dealing with setbacks. Understanding these stages and where you are in the process can help you find strategies to support lasting change.

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Overview of the Stages of Change

Anyone who has ever broken a New Year’s resolution can appreciate the difficulty of behavior change. Making a lasting behavior change is rarely a simple process. It usually involves a substantial commitment of time, effort, and emotion. The stages of change (or transtheoretical) model seeks to explain and effect such change, and the science says it works in many cases.

When changing a behavior, people typically go through the following stages:

1. Precontemplation, where they often ignore or deny the problem
2. Contemplation, where they weigh the pros and cons of making a change
3. Preparation, where they decide what they’ll do to make the change
4. Action, where they take steps toward the goal
5. Maintenance, where they stick with it for the long term
6. Relapse, where mistakes and setbacks happen, and people must decide whether to keep going

Each of these is discussed in more detail below.

Understanding this process can help you prepare to take these steps, decide how to tackle them, and follow through on your goals.

How to Start Making a Change That Lasts

Whether people want to lose weight, stop smoking, or accomplish another goal, no single solution works for everyone. You may have to go through a process of trial and error to achieve the things you want.

Change might not come easily, but psychologists have developed effective ways to help people change their behavior. Therapists, physicians, and teachers use these techniques.

Researchers have also proposed theories to explain how change occurs. Understanding the elements of change, the stages of change, and ways to work through each stage can help you achieve your goals.

Understanding the Stages of Change Model

One of the best-known approaches to change is the stages of change (aka, transtheoretical) model, introduced in the late 1970s by researchers James Prochaska and Carlo DiClemente. They were studying ways to help people quit smoking. The stages of change model has been found to be an effective aid in understanding how people go through a change in behavior.

In this model, change occurs gradually, and relapses are an inevitable part of the process. People are often unwilling or resistant to change during the early stages but eventually develop a proactive and committed approach to changing a behavior.

Stage 1: Precontemplation (Not Ready to Change Yet)

The earliest stage of change is precontemplation. During this stage, people are not considering a change. People in this stage are often described as “in denial” because they claim that their behavior is not a problem. In some cases, people in this stage do not understand that their behavior is damaging or are under-informed about the consequences of their actions.

Start by asking yourself some questions:

• Have you ever tried to change this behavior in the past?
• How do you recognize that you have a problem?
• What would have to happen for you to consider your behavior a problem?

Stage 2: Contemplation (Thinking About Change)

During this stage, people become more and more aware of the potential benefits of making a change, but the costs tend to stand out even more. This conflict creates a strong sense of ambivalence about changing. Because of this uncertainty, the contemplation stage of change can last months or even years.

You may view change as a process of giving something up rather than a means of gaining emotional, mental, or physical benefits. If you are contemplating a behavior change, there are some important questions to ask yourself:

• Why do you want to change?
• Is there anything preventing you from changing?
• What are some things that could help you make this change?

Stage 3: Preparation (Getting Ready to Change)

During the preparation stage, you might begin making small changes to prepare for a larger life change. For example, if losing weight is your goal, you might switch to lower-fat foods. If your goal is to quit smoking, you might switch brands or smoke less each day. You might also take some sort of direct action, such as consulting a therapist, joining a health club, or reading self-help books.

If you are in the preparation stage, there are some steps you can take to improve your chances of successfully making a lasting life change:

• Gather as much information as you can about ways to change your behavior.
• Prepare a list of motivating statements.
• Write down your goals.
• Find resources such as support groups, counselors, or friends who can offer advice and encouragement.

Stage 4: Action (Making the Change)

During the fourth stage of change, people begin taking direct action to accomplish their goals. Oftentimes, resolutions fail because the previous steps have not been given enough thought or time.

For example, many people make a New Year’s resolution to lose weight and immediately start a new exercise regimen, embark on a healthier diet, and cut back on snacks. These definitive steps are vital to success, but these efforts are often abandoned in a matter of weeks because the previous steps have been overlooked.

If you are currently taking action toward achieving a goal, congratulate and reward yourself for any positive steps you take. Reinforcement and support are extremely important in helping maintain positive steps toward change.

Stage 5: Maintenance (Sticking With It)

The maintenance phase of the stages of change model involves successfully avoiding former behaviors and keeping up new behaviors.

If you are trying to maintain a new behavior, look for ways to avoid temptation. Try replacing old habits with more positive actions. Reward yourself when you are able to successfully avoid a relapse.

If you do falter, don’t be too hard on yourself or give up. Instead, remind yourself that it was just a minor setback. As you will learn in the next stage, relapses are common and are a part of the process of making a lifelong change.

Stage 6: Relapse (Bouncing Back After Setbacks)

Relapses are a common occurrence in any behavior change. When you go through a relapse, you might experience feelings of failure, disappointment, and frustration.

The key to success is to not let these setbacks undermine your self-confidence. If you lapse back to an old behavior, take a hard look at why it happened. What triggered the relapse? What can you do to avoid these triggers in the future?

Consider reassessing your resources and techniques. Reaffirm your motivation, plan of action, and commitment to your goals. Also, make plans for how you will deal with any future temptations.

Resolutions fail when the proper preparation and actions are not taken. By approaching a goal with an understanding of how to best prepare, act, and maintain a new behavior, you will be more likely to succeed.

What Can the Model Help With?

The transtheoretical stages of change model can help in many areas, including:

• Smoking cessation
• Overeating
• Drug misuse rehabilitation
• Diabetes management
• Medication adherence

It can also help people achieve lifestyle goals such as:

Limitations of the Stages of Change Model

Although the transtheoretical model can foster behavioral change, critics have pointed out several limitations:

• It assumes that the person is capable of rational, logical decisions and actions.
• It doesn’t take into account contextual factors such as income, class, occupation, etc.
• No defined start/end points or durations delineate each stage or the overall process.
• Interview tools such as questionnaires are arbitrary and unstandardized.

Where to Get Support for Making a Change

Sometimes, no matter how determined a person is, the obstacles to change are nearly insurmountable without help—or at the very least, infinitely easier with it.

For example, overcoming a substance misuse disorder generally requires the expertise of a specialist to help smooth the rehabilitation process and foster your mental and physical health. They can provide therapy, medication, and other proven supports. Talk with your healthcare provider about the options.