Discovering More About How You Think
Many factors influence how you think and make decisions. Your personality (e.g., intuitive/logical, stories/numbers, risk taker/risk averse), your age and stage in life (e.g., child/youth/adult/senior, parent, pregnant/trying to become pregnant, retired), your sex and gender (e.g., cis-male, cis-female, intersex, trans), your physical and mental health, your emotions, cultural norms, your social circumstances including where you live, what you do for work, whether you have support from friends or family, are all examples of factors that influence how you think and make decisions.
Other factors, like your symptom severity, your health history, your past treatment experience, your physiological makeup may also determine what treatments are most suitable for you.
Here are some questions to reflect upon to help you discover more about how you think:
- When I think about the factors listed above, which ones have the most meaning and are most important to me? Why?
- Based on the factors that are influencing my ability and willingness to think and make treatment decisions now, what kind of supports do I need to help me see the whole picture so I can weigh both the pros and cons of treatment options and consider the implications on my short-, mid-, and long-term goals?
- Whose advice do I trust when I must decide something? Why? Do they understand me and have my best interests at heart?
- Has my thinking or have my personal circumstances changed so that I need to rethink a treatment decision I made before?
Last updated November, 2021