Scaling – A Simple Tool for Restoring Hope and Making Progress
March 23, 2020 | Uncategorized | No Comments
Scaling was developed as a technique in a type of therapy referred to as Solution Focused Therapy. It was proven to be so useful that it is become a more general tool for counsellors. I would suggest it also has use as a self-help tool.
As humans we are programmed to make sense of our life circumstances and the situations we find ourselves in. Sometimes there are highly adaptive and help us to cope, or move forward in a way which protects and supports us. In other situations our internal explanation may create a sense of hopelessness and limit the possibility for even small changes. Whilst not discounting that there are situations where we are relatively powerless, even small changes can be protective of mental health in these situations. In other situations, where it is not the environment limiting us, it can result in more positive mental health and remove some blockages to goal achievement.
The idea of scaling is it forces us to notice the intensity of something, and more importantly to notice small changes, upwards or downwards, in this intensity. When working with scaling in a counselling or mental health perspective it is usually focused on internal process, such as emotions or thought intensity.
How does it work
Lets say you believe you have an issue with feeling sad or angry all the time. You might feel overwhelmed and that things are never improving.
Using scaling you would develop a subjective measure of say the intensity of this feeling over a day and / or at given points in the day. The subject measure is typically on a scale of 0 to 5 or 0 to10.
Tracking this would give you a sense of times when it is lower or higher than normal. More importantly an opportunity to gather further information associated with this change, such as environmental factors. Also what you were doing, what you were thinking etc. You would also become aware of exceptions where even if you were sad most of the time, a slight reduction on a given day is evidence of improvement.
From a mental health perspective, these exceptions aside from providing insight into the change, also provide hope that change is possible and that things will change. Hope increase the activation of high level cognitive functions which increase our resourcefulness and our ability to problem solve.
Like all good ideas, it is only beneficial to you if you use it. I ask that you consider trying it maybe.
If you already identify with mental illness and / or if your symptoms are severe, then I would suggest talking to a mental health professional before starting on this journey.
Using scaling
Identify the emotion, thought or behaviour that you feel is impacting you.
Develop a scale of say 0-5 or 0-10 and reflect on how you would notice a given level.
Using you phone or paper track either overall level at end of day, or various points during the day.
At the end of the week review the daily data. If there is a consistent value (say it was sadness and it was 8 most days, on a day when it is lower, reflect on what was different in either the environment or how you were thinking, feeling or behaving.
During the next week try to increase the influence of these factors and review the daily numbers at the end of the week.
If you continue to have exceptions (i.e lower numbers) then these are sign of progress. They are also clues about what things to change to make further progress.
Good luck !
