Models of Change and Well-Being from Behavioral Health Disorders

The purpose of this chapter is to help providers understand the factors that influence change, recovery, and well-being so that they can (re)create contexts that empower clients and promote health. In this chapter I review theories that can help providers understand how to respond to clients who engage in unhealthy behaviors and how to create the contexts that lead to change, recovery, and well-being. In the first part of this chapter, I review three major theories of recovery and well-being that include: (1) the model of mental health recovery, (2) The model of subjective well-being, and (3) the model of psychological well-being. In the second part of this chapter, I review three theories related to understanding how people change health-related behaviors, such as substance use and other risk behaviors. Three major theories are reviewed that include: (1) the transtheoretical model of change, (2) the health beliefs model, and (3) the theory of reasoned action. I also identify general treatment approaches that enhance recovery and well-being and discuss how to efficiently and effectively deploy these approaches in ways that maximize behavior change in clients.