The Mental Emotional Health Blog

I find discussions about and the application of change dynamics fascinating. (I’m guessing that’s the first you have read that sentence today.) I work in a “change” field as a Clinical Therapist. Each client brings a set of challenges and strengths, and their presence in the therapy room implies a desire for some type of change. And change occurs in the client and therapist every single time.

Anyway, types of change are on my mind today. If a person wants to change something in his or her life, the depth of that change depends on the type of change. First-order change happens when you change behaviors or solve problems on the surface; it’s like you are playing the same game with the same rules with different strategies. Second-order change is where deeper, typically more lasting change occurs. With second-order change, the rules of the game change and your perspective widens past the assumptions you previously held.

Failing to quit smoking is a great example. Many people attempt to keep their lives the same (same game, same rules) while trying to make an isolated change like trying to figure out how to quit (different strategies). If a second-order change is applied, a person can reinvent himself or herself overall (different rules) and create or enhance more habits that support the desired change. Second-order changes are changes other people can recognize too. These comments indicate when a second-order change might have been made:

Since he stopped smoking he became a new man.

She has a whole new outlook on life.

There is something different about you.

Way to think out-of-the-box.

You have grown up.

For those of you out there who prefer a visual representation of transformational change, check out this web page I found this morning (I have no affiliation with the site; just thought it explained orders of change pretty well): Break Out of the Box .