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Behavioural activation
Behavioural activation, step by step
This guide splits behavioural activation into five steps, done in order. Each one is small. Below is what to do at each step, with an example of how two weeks can look.
The five steps
- Notice what you do now
- Pick what matters to you
- Plan small activities
- Do them at the planned time
- Look back and adjust
Step 1: notice what you do now
For a few days, write down what you do each hour and how you feel. Psychologists call this activity monitoring. Don't change anything yet. The aim is to see where your day goes, and which activities lift your mood and which ones drain it.
How to keep an activity diary, with an example day.
Step 2: pick what matters to you
Look across five parts of life: getting something done, time with people, doing what you enjoy, your body, and rest. For each one, ask what matters to you there. Treatment manuals for behavioural activation also ask about your life areas and what you value in each, and use your answers to choose activities.
Ideas for each area: achievement, connection, enjoyment, body and rest, or the whole list of 142 activities.
Step 3: plan small activities
Choose one small activity for a set time each day. Pick it from an area that matters to you, and make it small enough to do on a bad day. The NHS suggests starting with the easier ones and building up from there.
If you want to rate it, write down what you expect from the activity, from 0 to 10. The activity scheduling guide shows how, and the free worksheet fits a week on one page.
Step 4: do them at the planned time
When the time comes, do the activity, whether or not you feel like it. Behavioural activation asks you to follow a plan instead of your mood. The idea is that you start first, and motivation can follow.
Step 5: look back and adjust
After each activity, note how you feel now: worse, the same, a bit better or much better. At the end of the week, look for the activities that left you feeling better and plan more of them. If you skipped one, make the next one smaller.
An example: Sam's two weeks
Sam is made up. In week 1 she keeps an activity diary for four days. Most of her hours go on the couch or her phone, and her mood is lowest in the late afternoon. Her two best moments were a call with her sister and watering the plants.
In week 2 she plans one small activity a day, mostly in the afternoon, and notes how she feels after each one.
| Day | Activity | Area | How she felt after |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | Open the curtains or blinds | Body | A bit better |
| Tuesday | Phone call to a friend about nothing | Connection | Much better |
| Wednesday | Water the plants | Achievement | The same |
| Thursday | Go for a walk | Body | A bit better |
| Friday | Wash the dishes | Achievement | The same |
| Saturday | Meet someone for coffee | Connection | Skipped |
| Sunday | Listen to music | Enjoyment | A bit better |
At the end of week 2, Sam keeps the call and the walk. She skipped coffee, so next week she'll send a voice message to the same friend first.
How long it takes
In studies, behavioural activation runs over weeks and months. In a large UK trial of 440 adults with depression, people could have up to 20 one-hour sessions with a mental health worker over 16 weeks, and the main result was measured a year after they joined.
On your own or with a psychologist
You can start these steps on your own. A psychologist can help you set them up, adjust them and keep going.
What the research says
A 2020 Cochrane review brought together 53 studies of behavioural activation for depression in adults, with about 5,500 people. Five of those studies, with 601 people, compared it with CBT. The review found no clear difference between the two in the short term, up to six months after treatment, and rated that evidence as moderate certainty.
Behavioural activation is a recommended psychological approach for depression (RANZCP 2020; NICE NG222).
These studies tested behavioural activation with a therapist or trained mental health worker. They didn't test Bloom, and Bloom isn't therapy.
For more, see what behavioural activation is.
When to get more help
Has it lasted more than two weeks? Is it getting in the way of work, study or the people around you? Then talk to your GP. In Australia, your GP can refer you to a psychologist under a Mental Health Treatment Plan.
Beyond Blue is on 1300 22 4636 in Australia. If you're not safe, call 000 in Australia or 988 in the US, or Lifeline on 13 11 14.
Bloom helps with steps 3 to 5
Bloom picks small activities for each day, or you plan your own at set times with a reminder. After each one, it asks how you feel.
Sources
- Lejuez CW and others (2011). Ten year revision of the brief behavioral activation treatment for depression: revised treatment manual. Behavior Modification 35: 111–161. doi.org/10.1177/0145445510390929
- Kanter JW and others (2010). What is behavioral activation? Clinical Psychology Review 30: 608–620. doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2010.04.001
- Uphoff E and others (2020). Behavioural activation therapy for depression in adults. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD013305.pub2
- Richards DA and others (2016). Cost and Outcome of Behavioural Activation versus Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Depression (COBRA). The Lancet 388: 871–880. doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(16)31140-0
- NHS Every Mind Matters. Low mood and depression. Accessed 17 October 2026. www.nhs.uk/every-mind-matters/mental-health-issues/low-mood/
- NICE (2022). Depression in adults: treatment and management (NG222). www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng222
- Malhi GS and others (2021). The 2020 Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists clinical practice guidelines for mood disorders. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry 55: 7–117. www.ranzcp.org/getmedia/a8c79505-c0b5-46b4-9f27-67f79e047674/RANZCP-mood-disorders-clinical-practice-guideline-2020.pdf