Penalties

See Taphsic.

See Gedarim

References

• Ineffective strategies we discourage include self-punishment and willpower alone. Hester and Miller, Handbook, p. 228.

• Subjects who used self-punitive cognitions were as likely to relapse as those who used no cognitive coping at all. Shiffman, Coping and Substance Use (1985) p. 230. Example of such a thought: “Im such a weakling”. Ibid p. 226. Coping with self-punitive thoughts were ineffective, probably because it increase negative affect^[1] (see Velten, 1968) and decreased self-efficacy, which has been shown to affect smoking cessation outcome (e.g. Condiotte & Lichtenstein, 1981). Ibid p. 237.
• If, and only if, a client develops a reward system (which not all will do), then she or he can consider having penalties for not achieving his or her goals. A penalty should be something that the client genuinely dislikes but is in some way constructive. Examples might include cleaning out the garage or picking up litter in the neighborhood Once the client chooses the penalty, he or she writes up the agreement just as she or he did with the reward system. We discourage clients from setting up a system of penalties without there also being a system of rewards. Hester and Miller, Handbook, p. 157.
• Punishment and rewards are opposite sides of the same coin: You can punish problem behavior or reward desirable behavior. Punishment is rarely used by successful self-changers or therapists. Not only is it ethically questionable, it tends to suppress problem behavior temporarily rather than lead to lasting change. Rewards, on the other hand, are often successfully used to change behavior. Prochaska, James O.. Changing for Good: A Revolutionary Six-Stage Program for Overcoming Bad Habits and Moving Your Life Positively Forward (p. 30-31). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.
• [Includes many tips on how to punish effectively. Then adds:] Given my general mistrust of punishment, I encourage self-changers to reward the small steps toward the goal and to ignore the old problem behavior. Norcross, John C.. Changeology: 5 Steps to Realizing Your Goals and Resolutions (pp. 119-121 / Step 3 - Perspire Stage). Simon & Schuster. Kindle Edition.
• Some therapists recommend the use of a signed contract to formalize the commitment process. Others recommend that such a contract include contingencies describing penalties for violation of the contract (e.g., paying a monetary fine or forfeiting a deposit in tine event of relapse). Contingency contracting may be an effective strategy, particularly as a method of increasing the  “response cost” of relapse during the initial stages of the journey. Some clients agree in advance to pay their relapse fines to an undesirable individual or political group (e.g., the Ku Klux Klan or the American Nazi Party) as an additional incentive. However, the ultimate outcome of such external restraints may be a backfire effect in which relapse is more likely to occur when the contract expires or the effects of the contingencies lose their incentive appeal. Until future research clarifies the conditions under which contingency contracting is effective, therapists should use caution when considering the use of this procedure. Relapse Prevention (1985) p. 235.
• […] our raw behavioral data indicate that while subjects were equally good at learning from rewards and punishments, they showed better performance in conditions requiring a go choice than in trials requiring a no-go choice. Importantly, participants were better at learning to go in the reward condition (compared to go in the punishment condition), and were better at learning to withhold a response (no-go) in the punishment condition (compared to a similar response in the reward condition). This pattern was also evident in the total number of correct choices as a function of each condition (Fig. 2E, post-hoc paired t-tests, t(46) = 4.85, p < 0.001 and t(46) = 5.08, p < 0.001, respectively). Combined, these results constitute evidence for a striking interdependence of action and valence where rewards preferentially support learning of active go choices, and punishments preferentially support learning of no-go choices. Guitart-Masip, M., Huys, Q. J. M., Fuentemilla, L., Dayan, P., Duzel, E., & Dolan, R. J. (2012). Go and no-go learning in reward and punishment: interactions between affect and effect. NeuroImage, 62(1), 154–166. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2012.04.024
• [Example: I will give #10 to a charity that I don't like]. Tolin, D. F. (2016). Doing CBT : a comprehensive guide to working with behaviors, thoughts, and emotions. The Guilford Press. P. 185, 197.

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^[1] People who express high negative affectivity view themselves and a variety of aspects of the world around them in generally negative terms.Watson, D.; Clark, L. A. (1984). "Negative affectivity: The disposition to experience negative aversive emotional states". Psychological Bulletin. 96: 465–490. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.96.3.465. PMID 6393179. From Wikipedia

Torah Sources

• Rabbeinu Yonah in Igeres Hateshva Ch. 69 - הובא בשובה שלימה תש"מ.
  • דרך ישרה שיבור לו האדם ליראת שמים וכו' וטוה ויפה לקנוס כל אחד עצמו בסך ידוע אם מעט ואם הרבה על אלה עכ"ל.
• See Shmiras Einayim > Rav Friedlander's Positive Approach - הסתכלות לשוח עיניים ולעוין בשמחה לקיים מצות "ולא תתורו" שהזמין השי"ת לידי. ואם נכשלתי לשלם קנס.
• דרכי החיים א ע' תמה לפיקוביץ דכשנזמן לו ראיה אסורה יסגור עינו כהרף עין, ולא ישים לב לחשוב אם בכל זאת היתה ראיה בלא כוונה אלא יתחיל לחשוב קדושה בתורה ויראת שמים... במלחה כנגד היצה"ר של עבירו זו אין לנהל בקנסות על עצמו לא בכסף ולא בתעניות... כי אדרבה זה יעורר ויחזק את כח מחשבת התאוה ... עיי"ש. הובא בישראל קדושים עמ' נ.
• ספר שר שלום לרבי שלום בן שמריה ספרדי (ספר מאוד ישן): והנה מבואר הוא לכל שעון זה קשה הוא עד מאד שהרי נכתב בו כי לא ינקה ה' לכן כל הירא את דבר ה' יריחיק את עצמו מן ההרגל הרע הזה וכיצד יעשה בכל פעם שמזכיר את הם יתן פרוטה אחת לקופה של תלמוד תורה ומזה יגינו לו שני תועלות גדולות האחד שירגיל וירחיק עצמו מעט מעט מעון זה, והתועלת השני בזכות הצדקה שיתן ימעט ממנו העונש הקשה הש"י יצילנו מכל עונש רע כו'.

Further Reading

• Positive Vision Day 57.