False Hope Syndrome

I know that psychologists love to figure out new and different syndromes.  I wonder if they’ve discovered a syndrome for psychologists who are obsessed with creating syndromes.  Now if you have high expectations and don’t meet them you have your very own syndrome.  Psychologists now say you have “False Hope Syndrome.”  I wonder if this also applies to guys who are constantly turned down for dates.  My invaluable insights are in italics.

Tips from the Experts to Beat False Hope Syndrome

Press Release USNewswire/ -- Are you one of the many who pledged to invest more time and energy into wellness? Are you still on target or was your goal sidelined?  Despite their best intentions, people often find it difficult to change their behavior.  According to sport and exercise psychology authorities from the Association for Applied Sport Psychology (AASP), the problem may be "false hope syndrome."

Yeah, I mean this is for real, these people believe this.  I guess being an exercise psychology authority doesn’t pay as well as it seems and you need some sort of syndrome to pad the paycheck.  Maybe they could charge people for “reality check” treatment?  If they haven’t thought of it I’m sure they will.

"False Hope Syndrome is the cyclical pattern where one embarks on a change, succeeds in the beginning, but ultimately fails at sustaining that change," said Dr. Amanda Visek, a Certified Consultant with AASP and a professor at The George Washington University.

Maybe they can develop something called a “stick to it” vaccine and the drug companies can get involved.  Hey, people in the medical profession are entrepreneurs too.  If you believe that someday stupid medical findings will cease to be taken seriously is that also “False Hope Syndrome?”

"Americans consistently show their resiliency to failure because many will resolve to take on the same goals again next month or next year, only to fail again."

These people are suffering from “loser syndrome.”  Get it right will you?

The key to breaking this cycle of failure using the following strategies to increase the odds of sticking with your fitness goals:

Assess Your Expectations –Align expectations with what science has shown us is feasible and healthy.  

Science has shown this path is filled with chocolate cake landmines and fried food attacks.  According to science they are only dealt with through exercise and eating tofu!

Readjust and Refine Goals – Be as specific as possible when developing goals to be measurable, action-oriented, yet realistic.

Duh!  Promise to only eat unhealthy food you can falsely rationalize eating and record the results on a chart so you know how badly you’re cheating on your diet.

Prepare for Action – Gather what is needed for success – appropriate clothing, fitness equipment, social support, etc. Proper planning is crucial. We don't typically plan on failing at our goals, but we often fail to properly plan.

Don’t you also need people to yell and scream at you as you exercise?  Guess I watched one too many episodes of “The Biggest Loser.”

Extrinsic vs. intrinsic motivation

According to Dr. Brandonn Harris, a Certified Consultant with AASP and assistant professor at Georgia Southern University “The key, he said, is to enhance intrinsic motivation, which focuses on physical activity that is fun, inherently enjoyable and may even provide the individual with a new and exciting challenge.”

Does this involve going to brothels?  If it does the obesity issues with men could be over in a very short time.  If the government is going to pay for free contraception they should also pay for this health-related activity!

Harris recommends that people expand their definition of being physically active beyond running or hitting the gym.  For example, activities like walking the dog, golfing without the cart, Zumba classes, and even gardening provide fun alternatives to "traditional" forms of physical activity.  It's also important, Harris said, to remember that some physical activity is better than none.

Let’s not forget the muscle tone, exercise, and fun involved with lifting 12 ounces of beer at a time!

"Fun is the center stone to maintaining exercise," said Visek. "New exercisers don't often know what they like, only what they don't like. The key is to experiment with a number of different activities and find which one suits you best.  It's all about exercising your way. And, you can exercise your way in small increments of time throughout the day.

And people believe the time spent walking to vending machines or to getting coffee in the office has no positive physical benefits.  Oh, how wrong they are!

Research shows that moderate intensity exercise accumulated in small bouts adds up to positive fitness gains."

Finding your motivation and making it work

And that ladies and gentlemen are how you deal with “False Hope Syndrome.”  If you set your goals too low do you suffer from “Low goal setting syndrome?” or if you meet one set of goals but don’t set more is that “Unmotivated goal setting syndrome.”  How about if you lose weight and gain it all back and then try to lose it again.  Is that “Why Am I an Idiot syndrome?”  How about if you lose weight without diet and exercise just maintain your life but stop eating fat and sugar.  Is that “I don’t need no stinking weight loss program crap syndrome?”

Maybe scientists need to realize not everything is a syndrome.  Sometimes things happen because we’re all flawed individuals.  History teaches us some people succeed and others don’t.  That idea will probably never be presented to the world by the medical profession as there’s just no money to be made from it.

Link to article

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/secrets-to-successful-exercise-adherence-tips-from-the-experts-to-beat-false-hope-syndrome-140862793.html

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