Overconfidence in Recovery Worksheet

People when recovering usually seem to be confident. Therapists should assess if this is confidence or overconfidence. The therapist should see some signs of overconfidence that can be seen in individuals. Place a trick if the individual is exhibiting any of the below-mentioned signs in their behavior. Give a 2 rating if the sign is present and find the rating of overconfidence at the end.

Signs	Present (2)
Thinking that they already know everything
Thinking that recovery is forever and stopped practicing techniques
Thinking that their problems are unique and your treatment should be unique
Overrate one’s recovery
Focus on recovering areas only do not look for emerging issues
Expect miraculous results
Overgeneralize success in one area to all the other areas of therapy
Ask you to discontinue because they are better now
Skips appointments after getting better
Thinks that therapy isn’t required now
Score

Below mentioned are some of the strategies you can use to overcome overconfidence therapy.

Psycho-educate them about mentioned signs of overconfidence
Identify their cognitive distortions by asking them to record thoughts about expectations from therapy and recovery.
Make them aware of the ups and downs of therapy and explain that just like life has ups and downs just like that the recovery process is also having up and down some days they are progressing well while some days lead them towards relapse. All they have to do is push them and make efforts by using suggested techniques.
Do a cost-benefit analysis of ending therapy
Create more acceptance and promote honesty while the process of recovery

Reference

Shapira-Ettinger, K., & Shapira, R. A. (2008). The constructive value of overconfidence. Review of Law & Economics, 4(3), 751-778.

You can download more Mental Health worksheets here.

Please note: There may be a more up-to-date and editable version of this worksheet available here which may be more suitable to present to clients if you are a therapist or to use in a classroom as a teacher or guidance counsellor.