15 Therapy Techniques to Change Habits and Behavior

Behavior change is widely recognized by policymakers, researchers, and clinicians as essential for addressing many individual and societal challenges.

Developing effective behavioral interventions has influenced fields as diverse as healthcare, mental health, policing, education, and public policy (Hagger, Cameron, Hamilton, Hankonen, & Lintunen, 2020). Interventions that successfully change behavior can improve chronic disease management, reduce harmful habits, support financial wellbeing, and lower rates of offending.

Over recent decades, numerous behavioral theories have been created to explain how context, environment, individual differences, and social influence affect the success of change efforts. This article summarizes key theories, practical techniques, worksheets, and measurement tools that can help people and practitioners foster lasting behavior change.

How to Change Behavior and Habits

Many contemporary social problems are linked, directly or indirectly, to human behavior — from obesity and cardiovascular disease to substance use and other preventable harms (Hagger et al., 2020). Changing entrenched, unhealthy behaviors is challenging, and success requires intention, planning, and sustained effort.

As Forsyth and Eifert note, repeating the same actions tends to produce the same results; to get different outcomes we must change how we behave (Forsyth & Eifert, 2016). That change begins with a conscious decision to remove barriers and commit to new patterns.

Several psychological theories explain how and why behavior changes, and each offers practical guidance for designing interventions. Common approaches include:

• Theory of Planned Behavior
• Habit Theory
• Transtheoretical (Stages of Change) Model
• Self-Determination Theory
• Social Cognitive Theory
• Control Theory

Across these approaches, individual attitudes and beliefs, social context, and the physical environment are consistently important factors determining change.

Habit theory

Habits streamline everyday decisions and conserve cognitive resources, but they are formed through repetition and can be either helpful or harmful (Orbell & Verplanken, 2020). To change a habit you can remove or alter triggers, inhibit the habitual response, or replace the old behavior with a new, healthier one. Disruption of cues and intentional practice of alternatives are key strategies.

Transtheoretical model

The transtheoretical model describes behavior change as a process through five stages rather than a single event: precontemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, and maintenance (Prochaska & DiClemente, 1983). At each stage people have different tasks to complete—such as committing to a plan in preparation or implementing and refining that plan during action. Change is often cyclical rather than linear, with people moving back and forth between stages.

Changing environments

Beyond individual motivation, the physical and social environment powerfully shape behavior (Marteau, Fletcher, Hollands, & Munafò, 2020). Choice architecture and nudge interventions adjust cues in everyday settings to make healthier behaviors easier and less effortful. Examples include offering smaller plates and glassware to reduce intake, prominently displaying healthier food options, or adding clear warnings to unhealthy products. Rigorous laboratory and field research is used to evaluate the effectiveness and side effects of such environmental changes.

There is no one-size-fits-all solution; interventions must be adapted to individuals, communities, and socio-economic contexts.

Setting Achievable Plans and Goals: 5 Examples

Goal-setting and planning are widely used and evidence-based strategies to support behavior change (Epton & Armitage, 2020). Clear, specific goals help focus attention, structure effort, and measure progress.

Two common goal-setting frameworks are SMART and SCAMP. SMART goals are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-bound. SCAMP emphasizes goals that are Specific; Challenging and Controllable; Attainable; Measurable and Multiple; and Personal (Kremer, Moran, & Kearney, 2019).

Goal-setting differentiates between behavioral goals (actions to adopt or stop) and outcome goals (the results you aim to achieve). Below are examples across different domains:

1. Social inequality – By 2030, achieve sustained income growth for the bottom 40% at a rate higher than the national average.
2. Fitness – Complete a 10 km road race in under 40 minutes by September.
3. Workplace – Use annual reviews to set attainable yet challenging professional development goals.
4. Sport – Aim to surpass a 7,000-point total in the heptathlon next season.
5. Environment – Reduce absolute carbon emissions by 35% by 2025/2026.

Free Goals Exercises (PDF)

Science-based worksheets and exercises can help you or your clients create actionable goals and support lasting behavior change.

Approaching Change: 4 Helpful Interventions

Habits convert small choices into automatic actions. While this saves effort, it also makes unhealthy behaviors persistent. Effective interventions either create helpful habits or disrupt harmful ones.

Creating good habits

To build new habits, aim to make the desired behavior obvious, attractive, easy, and satisfying (Clear, 2018). Repetition in a stable context helps new behaviors become automatic. Practical worksheets and habit trackers support planning, monitoring, and reinforcement of positive routines.

Undoing bad habits

Breaking a habit often involves preventing the cue from triggering the response or making the response harder to perform. Strategies include reducing visibility of triggers, increasing friction, and removing rewarding elements of the habit. Structured worksheets that prompt questions such as “How can I make this less visible?” or “How can I make this more difficult?” can guide change efforts.

Motivation to change

Motivation drives the initiation and persistence of change and helps overcome resistance and apathy (Ryan & Deci, 2018). Simple exercises that list advantages and disadvantages of change can clarify reasons to act and strengthen commitment.

Resilience and change

Change rarely proceeds without setbacks. Resilience helps people recover and continue. Consider the “four Ss” when building resilience: Skills, Supports, Strategies, and Sagacity (wisdom and insight) (Pemberton, 2015). Identifying these resources increases confidence and the capacity to sustain change.

3 Techniques & Exercises for Therapy Sessions

Therapists and coaches can use a range of tools to support clients through change. Below are three practical techniques commonly used in clinical and coaching settings.

Managing resistance to change

Clients may resist for many reasons. To manage resistance, practitioners should stay composed, validate clients’ feelings, express empathy, reframe resistance as information, and help clients explore their concerns. Taking on the client’s pain—acknowledging difficulty while focusing on goals—can preserve the therapeutic alliance (Clay, 2017).

The miracle question

Ask the client to imagine waking up tomorrow and discovering the problem is gone. What would be different? How would they notice the change? The miracle question helps clients envision positive futures and identify concrete signs of progress, which can reveal motivating goals (Rogers et al., 2020).

If–then plans (implementation intentions)

If–then plans specify precise actions to take in response to anticipated cues. Working with clients to identify critical situations and rehearsing appropriate responses makes it more likely they will act as intended when those situations occur (Rhodes, Grant, & de Bruijn, 2020).

Resources for Practitioners

Comprehensive toolkits, worksheets, and evidence-based exercises support clinicians and coaches in applying behavior change techniques with clients and groups.

Eliciting Behavior Change: 12 Questions to Ask

Motivational interviewing helps clients find their own reasons to change and increases change talk based on personal values and goals (Miller & Rollnick, 2002). A practical mnemonic is DARN: Desire, Ability, Reasons, Need. Below are sample prompts for each category to encourage self-motivated change.

• Desire – Explore what the client wants: “What changes do you hope these sessions will bring? How would you like your life to be different in a year?”
• Ability – Explore capability without forcing commitment: “If you decided to get fit, how could you do it? What changes seem possible for you?”
• Reasons – Elicit specific motives: “Why would you want to change your diet? What would make it worthwhile?”
• Need – Evoke urgency and importance: “What needs to happen? How important is this change for you?”

4 Questionnaires to Measure Behavioral Changes

Measuring behavior change helps track progress and evaluate interventions. Well-designed surveys and assessments increase accountability and can prompt behavior simply by making it salient (Godin et al., 2010).

• Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey (BRFSS) – population-level health behavior surveillance.
• Advance Care Planning process measures – assess knowledge, contemplation, self-efficacy, and readiness for change.
• Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function – evaluates behaviors related to executive functioning.
• BIS/BAS scales – measure motivational tendencies toward approach and avoidance goals.

2 Activities for Group Settings

Group settings are ideal for collective reflection and for testing environmental nudges that shape behavior without restricting choice. Two useful group-focused activities are:

Powerful change questions

Use guided reflection prompts to help group members imagine the bigger picture and clarify what they truly want. These questions support coaching models such as GROW and stimulate meaningful goal formation.

Nudge interventions in groups

Discussing and designing small environmental or informational changes—nudges—can be an engaging group activity. Examples include presenting clear nutritional information, redesigning spaces to encourage movement, and sharing social norms that support healthy behavior. Nudge approaches preserve choice while steering behavior in beneficial directions (Thaler & Sunstein, 2021).

Motivation and Goal Tools

Validated motivation and goal-achievement tools help practitioners support clients in turning aims into measurable steps and maintaining momentum.

Helpful Resources

Practitioners and clients can benefit from a range of worksheets and exercises designed to structure change, build resilience, and track progress. Examples include:

• WDEP-style questions to clarify what clients want, what they are doing, and what works.
• Looking-back and looking-forward prompts to compare past and desired futures and encourage change talk.
• Querying extremes exercises to evaluate consequences of action versus inaction.
• Habit trackers and self-contracts to support regular practice and commitment.

Self-monitoring tools like habit trackers provide immediate feedback and reinforce consistency. Self-contracts formalize commitment and increase the likelihood of follow-through.

A Take-Home Message

Behavioral solutions are critical to tackling many chronic physical and mental health problems as well as broader societal challenges. Successful change combines theory, individual planning, environmental design, habit formation, and ongoing measurement. Therapists and practitioners should collaborate with clients to identify meaningful goals—whether large outcomes or small habit changes—and to select evidence-based techniques that fit the person’s context and values.

Implementing new positive habits, disrupting unhealthy ones, and adjusting the environment can all make lasting change more achievable. Clear planning, supportive routines, and resilience strategies help people sustain progress over time.

References