Problem Solving

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By Bruce Campbell

(Note: Third in a five-part series on self-management skills.)

Problem solving is a skill you can use to address many situations in your life. Using the three-step process described below, you have a structured way to problems that come up in your life.

1) Select a Problem

The starting point is to identify a problem that is important to you and that you feel ready or compelled to work on now. It will usually be something that interferes with your life, makes your life much more difficult or prevents you from doing something that is important to you.

For example, maybe you are having trouble sleeping or perhaps doing your household chores tires you out so much that you need more rest than usual for several days afterwards.

2) List Possible Solutions

The second step is to consider solutions. List as many ideas as you can think of. Often, problems have multiple causes, so a combination of solutions may be appropriate.

In many cases, you will be able to solve the problem yourself by brainstorming possible solutions and trying one or more of them. But sometimes you may want to get help, either in trying to understand your problem or in solving it. After you have a list, consider advantages and disadvantages of each option, and then rank them, giving the highest place to the solution you believe is most likely to work.

In thinking about how to improve sleep, you might brainstorm options in three categories Dr. Lapp and I discuss on the Treating CFS and FM website: sleep habits and environment, medications and sleep disorders:

1) Sleep Hygiene and Environment

Control sleep environment: mattress, light, noise (including snoring by partner)
Use a going to bed routine
Use relaxation
Use distraction
Use a "worry time"
Get up at consistent time
Use pacing to avoid "tired but wired" feeling
Limit daytime napping
Avoid caffeine, alcohol & tobacco
Keep a sleep log

2) Medications

Try drugs to aid sleep
Check to see if other drugs affect sleep (e.g. contain caffeine)

3) Sleep Disorders

Determine if have sleep apnea or other sleep disorders

If doing household chores is difficult, one possible solution is to spread the chores over several days rather than doing everything in one day. Or you might still do all your chores in one day, but in small chunks, taking frequent rest breaks. Another possible solution is to clean less frequently.

Two other solutions involve getting help from others. You might ask family members to share in the work. For example, children could clean their own rooms and do their own laundry. Or you could hire a cleaning service. Finally, if you saw housecleaning as one example of how household responsibilities in general had become too great, you might consider simplifying your life by moving to a home that is easier to maintain.

3) Experiment with Solutions and Evaluate Results

Next, choose one or a few options and develop a plan to test them. You might experiment using the goal-setting strategy described in an earlier article in this series.

After giving your strategies a fair trial, assess the results. Probably some potential remedies won't work, but others may prove helpful. If you don't have a complete success, you may have a partial solution. Sometimes a problem can't be solved by just one technique, but rather are best addressed using multiple solutions. Having a list of possibilities makes it easier to consider how several might be combined. Or perhaps you'll decide you need to head in a new direction.

Your final solution may be a combination of several approaches, so it may be helpful to look at your efforts as a series of experiments. That view can make it easier to accept disappointments and move on to another attempt, learning from each one. In some cases, a problem may not be solvable or not solvable at the present time.

To improve your sleep, you might begin by focusing on going to bed and getting up at the same times each day, getting off the computer and turning off the television an hour before doing to bed, and making an appointment to discuss sleep medications with your doctor.

To make household chores more manageable, you might decide to try a combination of strategies. You could reduce the amount of housecleaning you do, cleaning less thoroughly and having your house cleaned occasionally by professionals. You could change how you do chores, by alternating periods of work with rests.

Also, you could ask your children to clean their own rooms and wash their own laundry. Additionally, you might also begin to keep a journal to explore your thoughts and feelings about your current abilities and whether you have to lower your expectations for yourself.

Principles to Remember

There are a number of principles to keep in mind while using problem solving.

Explore a variety of potential solutions. There are often several ways a problem can be solved. Looking at your situation from a number of perspectives can help you recognize different approaches. Some problems are solved by a combination of strategies.
Ask what resources are available. In many cases, you will be able to solve your problems yourself by brainstorming possible solutions and trying one or more of them. But, you may sometimes want to get help, either in trying to understand your problem or in solving it.
Practice assertiveness. Your illness will require changes in your role and in those of other members of your family. For example, getting good sleep might requires that you sleep in a different room from your spouse/partner. Household chores may need to be renegotiated.
Make mental and emotional adjustments. Having a serious illness requires that you adopt new expectations for yourself based on having new, more restrictive limits. You will probably have to reduce your activity level and also make psychological adjustments, accepting that the person you were before your illness has been replaced, for now, with a more limited person.