Behavioral Activation Case Example

Name: Behavioral Activation Case Example
Uploaded: 2025-11-02T00:06:29.000Z
Description: Listen to an inspiring case study on how Behavioral Activation helped a client overcome moderate depression.

Listen to an inspiring case study on how Behavioral Activation helped a client overcome moderate depression.

From the course

CBT for Depression

And behavioral activation is simply a strategy that when employed, it really affects emotional change quickly. When you change your thoughts, you change your experience, but when you change your behavior, you change your life. And if you really think about the the depth of that comment, It's really true. But I had a client who had, I'd say moderate depression, and we were getting into, you know, the phase of treatment where we're trying to counter behaviors and such. And he was coming in for a few weeks in a row saying I just don't have any energy. I just don't feel like doing anything. I'm not working out the way I was and and he's somebody whose kids are very active in sports and stuff. He's just like, I'm just not enjoying it anymore. So we paused. Fidelity with flexibility. And we said, you know what? If we can get you to do something small, a mastery task, something that you feel accomplished if you do it. What is something you're not doing right now that you'd be willing to do? And we had a good rapport. He said, you know, doc, I just I would like to just even just walk outside. Like, I don't even feel like doing that. And I used to walk a whole lot and run. And, you know, if I could just walk down the block, that would be good. So I said, okay. So how about we pause? And let's focus our attention. When you get off work, rather than going to the couch, I just simply want you to walk down the street and back. So he's like, alright. I know the concept. So I'll try that even though I don't feel like it. So low and behold, a week goes by. He's doing this and he comes back. He said me taking a walk led me to start jogging again. And that then jogging again got me working out three days a week again. And me working out three days a week again got me running again. And so the-- the point of that is is that literally just a very small shift in what we were doing, Fidelity, with flexibility pausing and saying, you know, he needs this in this moment, really engaging in behavioral activation, literally just doing something from a value based perspective that he would do and not that I'm telling him to do was very important and really effectively changed his mood and his emotional state. And therefore, we were able to proceed with the rest of treatment as a result of that.