If you're thinking about ending your life, or you're not safe right now, call 000 in Australia or 911 in the US. You can also call Lifeline on 13 11 14 in Australia, or call or text 988 in the US, any time. Anywhere else, findahelpline.com lists free local lines.
Behavioural activation
Values in behavioural activation
Treatment manuals for behavioural activation ask what matters to you in different areas of life, then use your answers to choose which activities to plan. This page shows how to do that yourself, with an example for each area.
What a value is
A value is a direction you care about, such as being a good friend, looking after your health, or learning. You never finish a value, so you turn it into small activities you can do this week. If being a good friend matters to you, calling a friend this week is an activity that fits it.
Look across five areas of life
This site and Bloom group activities into five areas. For each one, ask yourself what matters to you there. The table gives one example per area.
| Area | Ask yourself | Example value | Example activity |
|---|---|---|---|
| Achievement | What would I like to get done, or get better at? | Keeping my home in order | Wash the dishes |
| Connection | Who matters to me, and how do I want to be with them? | Being a good friend | Phone call to a friend about nothing |
| Enjoyment | What did I use to enjoy, or want to try? | Making music | Play a musical instrument |
| Body | How do I want to look after my body? | Being active | Go for a walk |
| Rest | What helps me recharge? | Protecting my sleep | Go to bed 30 minutes earlier |
Treatment manuals use their own list of life areas, such as relationships, education or career, recreation and interests, mind, body and spirituality, and daily responsibilities. Use whichever list fits your life.
From a value to one activity
- Write down one value for each area that matters to you now. You don't need all five.
- Under each value, list two or three activities that fit it, from small to bigger.
- Pick the smallest one and plan it for a set time this week.
- After it, note how you feel: worse, the same, a bit better or much better.
For ideas, see the list of 142 activities. To plan them, see activity scheduling.
Keep the activities small
One activity a week for each value is enough to start with. If an activity keeps getting skipped, make it smaller: a text instead of a coffee, or one shelf instead of the whole room.
What the research says
Treatment manuals for behavioural activation, such as the revised brief manual, use life areas and values to choose activities. A 2021 review of behavioural activation trials looked at whether a values discussion made it work better for depression, and found no clear evidence that it did. Values help you choose what to plan; planning and doing the activities is the core of the method.
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.
Behavioural activation step by step sets out the whole method.
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 911 in the US. Lifeline is on 13 11 14, and in the US you can call or text 988. Anywhere else, see findahelpline.com.
Bloom does this with you
Bloom lets you add your own activities and hide the ones that don't suit you.
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
- Stein AT and others (2021). Looking beyond depression: a meta-analysis of the effect of behavioral activation on depression, anxiety, and activation. Psychological Medicine 51: 1491–1504. doi.org/10.1017/S0033291720000239
- Uphoff E and others (2020). Behavioural activation therapy for depression in adults. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD013305.pub2
- 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