Politixia
So, will a delusion week work? As psychologist Amanda Cassil, Ph.D., describes to Elite Daily, delusion weeks follow the same system as behavioral activation therapy, which “can be effective for treating depression and helpful for people who struggle with internal motivation.” This works on the basis “that if you do healthy behaviors, regardless of whether you feel motivated to do them, eventually your mood and thoughts will improve.”
Behavioral activation is a skill used in cognitive behavioral therapy, usually for treating people with depression. This treatment method is grounded in the idea that people feel better when they change their behavior (via Healthline). That sounds pretty intuitive, but when someone is dealing with depression or low self-esteem, they often don’t feel up to doing the things that make them feel better until they already feel better, thus creating the dead end that perpetuates depression. Behavioral activation therapy helps people navigate out of that dead end by guiding them toward performing healthy behaviors even when they don’t feel healthy yet.
In light of how difficult it can be to get into the right mindset to improve your lifestyle, it makes sense that a structured behavioral activation exercise could be quite useful. That said, behavioral activation isn’t the right fit for everyone, and delusion weeks can easily fall into the trap of perfectionism.
