BEHAVIOR CHAIN ANALYSIS SKILL

Session Online Version

Theme song: Watch “I Wish, I Wish” video.

MINDFULNESS ”GROUNDING” EXERCISE ACTIVITY

Observe your surroundings for two minutes with your eyes wide open.

Step 1: Pay attention to five things you are currently feeling, like the texture of your pants, breeze on your skin, or the smooth surface of a table you are resting your hands on.

Let at least 15 seconds pass before moving on to the next step.

Step 2: Bring your attention to four things that you can see. Pick things that you don’t normally notice like a shadow or a small crack.

Let at least 15 seconds pass before moving on to the next step.

Step 3: Listen, and note three things that you hear in the background. This can be the chirp of a bird, the hum of a refrigerator, or the faint sounds of traffic from a nearby road.

Let at least 15 seconds pass before moving on to the next step.

Step 4: Be aware of two smells you usually filter out, whether they’re pleasant or unpleasant.

Let at least 15 seconds pass before moving on to the next step.

Step 5: Focus on one thing that you can taste right now, at this moment. You can take a sip of a drink, chew a piece of gum, eat something, or notice the current taste in your mouth.

Let at least 15 seconds pass for this final step.

Discuss: What was your experience like? What did you notice? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Review your commitments from the Validation – DBT Skill session:

·      Use the Did I Validate? Worksheet to practice the validation skill.

·      Use the Self-Invalidation Worksheet to analyze your feelings.

·      Complete the Weekly DBT Diary.

·      Come prepared to the next session to share your experience using DBT skills.

1. Knowing that any behavior can be understood as a series of links in a chain is important for anyone who wants to change. DBT’s Chain Analysis helps us understand the nature of the problem; what prompts it; what its function is; what is interfering with the resolution of the problem; and what aids are available to help solve the problem. Links are “chained” together because they follow in succession one after the other. Figuring out what the links are is the first step in finding solutions to stopping the problem behavior. When any of the links of the chain can be broken, the problem behavior can be stopped.

Watch: “The Office: Angry Andy” video.

2. A Chain Analysis is structured to identify the critical pieces of information necessary to understand and solve a problem behavior. Depending on how you respond, links in a chain can move you farther away or closer to doing the unwanted behavior. In the analysis we focus first on identifying the key thoughts, events or actions that seem to contribute most to linking the prompting event with the unwanted behavior. To determine if a particular link is key, ask yourself if the unwanted behavior would have occurred if that link had not been there. By conducting repeated chain analyses, we can identify patterns linking different components of behavior together.

3. As we go through a behavioral chain analysis of Andy’s character from this excerpt of “The Office: Angry Andy” episode, think about one of your unwanted behaviors that you could analyze using the blank “Behavior Chain Analysis Worksheet” at the end of this session. Steps 1–5 are about understanding the problem. Steps 6–8 are about changing the unwanted behavior.

“HITTING THE WALL” CHAIN ANALYSIS

A.  UNDERSTANDING THE PROBLEM

Step 1. What exactly is Andy’s major PROBLEM BEHAVIOR that we are analyzing?

Acting out in anger, throwing the chair, hitting the wall.

Step 2. What PROMPTING EVENT in the environment started Andy on the chain to his problem behavior? Include what happened RIGHT BEFORE the urge or thought came into his mind.

Prompting event occurred on Tuesday with Andy, Nellie and the Boss’s conflict over the Regional Manager position.

Step 3. Describe what things in Andy and in his environment made him VULNERABLE.

Andy’s vulnerability started Monday when he and Erin returned from their trip and found Nellie in the Regional Manager’s chair. Andy, the new Regional Manager, felt weak in front of his coworkers. The boss told Nellie and Andy to work out their differences. Erin, concerned about Andy asked a coworker if he had experienced sexual problems when he held the Regional Manager's position. Nellie held a meeting where the office staff talked about Andy’s sexual problems, further embarrassing Andy.

Step 4. LINKS IN THE CHAIN OF EVENTS. List specific behaviors and environmental events that actually did happen.

Use the A,B,C,E,F – Actions, Body sensations, Cognitions or Thoughts, Feelings and Events – types of links. Specific behaviors and environmental events that happened.

1st. Andy thinking he is being moved back to sales feels even more humiliated telling his dad.

2nd. Andy sees Nellie correct Erin and make sexual innuendo comment in front of the office.

3rd. Andy sees Erin stand up to Nellie and yells at her.

4th. Andy yells at Erin in front of the office about his sexual problems.

5th . Andy rudely hangs up on his dad.

6th. The boss comes out to calm things down, Andy throws a chair at him.

7th. Andy sees Erin continue to rant, throwing things at Nellie.

8th. Andy breaks Nellie picture, then punches a hole through the wall.

Step 5.What exactly were the CONSEQUENCES in Andy’s ENVIRONMENT?

Short term: Erin and Andy wait for the boss to make a decision on who the Regional Manager should be, he or Nellie. The two wonder if they will both be sent to Anger Management, which happened to Andy after a similar outburst.

Long term: The boss tells Andy he is going to put Nellie in charge and that Andy will go back to sales. Andy refuses to accept this and is promptly fired.

And CONSEQUENCES in HIMSELF?

Short-term: Being fired gives Andy a feeling of control and power in his life causing him to once again have a satisfying sexually relationship with Erin.

Long-term: Stay tuned.

What harm did Andy’s problem behavior cause?

Andy lost the Regional Manager position and his job.

Discuss: Although it may feel like Andy “hitting the wall” all happened at once, why is it important to break down his unwanted behavior into steps or ‘chains’

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B.    CHANGING THE UNWANTED BEHAVIOR

Let’s re-watch a section of the “The Office: Angry Andy” video (00:00 to 01:22). This time write down specific behaviors that Andy could have done to be more effective.

Step 6. List new, more SKILLFUL BEHAVIORS to replace Andy’s ineffective behaviors identified in Step 4. LINKS IN THE CHAIN OF EVENTS.

Use the A,B,C,E,F – Actions, Body sensations, Cognitions or Thoughts, Feelings and Events types of links.

1st. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2nd. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3rd. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________

4th. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________

5th. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________

6th. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________

7th. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________

8th. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Step 7. PREVENTION PLANS:
Ways to reduce Andy’s vulnerability in the future:

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Ways Andy could prevent the prompting or precipitating event from happening again: ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Step 8. Andy’s PLANS TO REPAIR, CORRECT, AND OVERCORRECT THE HARM: ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

5.Needed behaviors are skillful behaviors that constitute effective responses in a specific situation, like skillful interpersonal behavior to calm down a stressful interaction or to address specific problems, like getting up on time when your alarm clock is broken. Doing a Missing-links Analysis together with a Behavior Chain Analysis may be useful in figuring out the problem when you know what the effective behavior is but still do not do it. We can use this information to problem solve so that next we are more likely to do what is needed or expected next time.

Discuss: As we went through the “Hitting the Wall” Behavior Chain Analysis did anyone realize that Andy’s real problem may not have been the presence of an unwanted behavior but the absence of effective behavior or a “missing link”? Why is it important to understand that distinction?___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

As we roll the Behavior Chain Analysis – DBT Skill end credits think about what is the most important thing you learned in this session and what will you do differently because of what you learned. Write your thoughts below.

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Session Commitments 

Use a blank “Behavioral Chain Analysis Worksheet”to describe one of your unwanted behaviors 

Use the companion “Behavior Analysis Missing-links Analysis Worksheet” questions to fill in any missing chains.

Complete the Weekly DBT Diary.

Come prepared to the next session to share your experience using DBT skills.