PROCEDURE

"We are far from developing satisfactorily effective treatment strategies"(Ferrari 1995, p.243)

Prof. Ferrari in his book Procrastination and Task avoidance(1995) outlines a step-by-step clinical procedure in treating procrastination which is very briefly reproduced below.

He recommends a different procedure for college/student procrastination versus adult procrastination. Adults may require more rigorous psychological evaluation and may need a broader treatment strategy. Their behavior is also more ingrained and less dystonic. Students are more likely to just have faulty study methods. Student procrastination may have a different etiology although there may be an overlap. They often need a more short term length of therapy. Procrastination in both cases may have impacted on their social relationships. For both types, Ferrari recommends beginning with psychological testing and a complete case history to rule out major psycho pathologies which are masquerading as procrastination. It is important to screen out anxiety and depression. Also important to rule out are attention and concentration problems or even substance abuse. It may be helpful to help clients reduce or manage stress at the same time. It is important that procrastination be the major focus of treatment, as the treatment does not seem to work to cure procrastination, unless it is specific and highly focused.

Students

1) Group therapy seems to be highly effective. Although individual therapy is also effective especially if there are more serious problems. Often 10 sessions of therapy at 80 minutes each time is sufficient.

2) Both for anxious and conscientious procrastinators as well as impulsive procrastinators, he recommends challenging the maladaptive cognitions associated with procrastination. The goal of therapy should be to increase academic effort (see Cognitive Behavior therapy). He also warns not to try to increase anxiety for low conscientious students as scare tactics do not work. For them a log or diary to estimate time may be an effective technique. Ferrari outlines the specific cognitive distortions a therapist could target in detail in his book.

3) If their anxiety is debilitating, it can be reduced using a variety of relaxation techniques or if necessary drugs.

4) He outlines a 10-session structured model called "Doing it Now" to be used in group therapy(see Bliss's book).

For adults

Ferrari distinguishes between typical procrastinators who procrastinate due to anxiety or lack of conscientiousness versus atypical procrastinators.

1) Adults do not do as well in group sessions as they often have poor attendance. Ferrari recommends about 12-25 sessions of therapy of about 45-50 minutes.

2) For typical procrastinators, Ferrari recommends targeting their anxiety immediately through cognitive behavior modification, relaxation or drugs.

3) A lack of conscientiousness may be a more serious problem with adult procrastinators and he recommends behavioral management or cognitive-behavioral methods. This includes increasing environmental cues, decreasing impulsive cognitions and increasing self-rewards associated with the aversive tasks.

4) Therapy often continues for a longer period following to resolve personal or marital difficulties. For atypical procrastinators, a more Psycho dynamic approach may be warranted. At this point the client may be referred to another therapist to avoid shifting therapeutic roles. Psycho pharmacology may also be appropriate.

References

Ferrari, J.R., Johnson, J.L., & McCown, W.G. (1995). Procrastination and task avoidance. New York, N.Y.:Plenum Press.

For more information:

To a taxonomy of interventions, To main Procrastination research group, To interventions page