How Motivational Interviewing in Addiction Treatment Can Help

By John Lee

Most people enter drug or alcohol addiction treatment with some ambivalence about the process or what they are supposed to achieve.

For example, a person may know on one hand that they need to quit drinking for health reasons, but on the other hand may wonder if a life without drinking will be enjoyable or worthwhile.

Feelings of ambivalence, although quite normal, can detract from a person's motivation to change and can be a factor in relapse back to substance abuse.

Because ambivalence can inhibit recovery from substance abuse and addiction, many addiction treatment programs use a type of therapy known as motivational interviewing (MI), which is designed to help people overcome these feelings of ambivalence and generate a clear plan of action.

Elements of Motivational Interviewing

• MI is a patient-centered therapy. It is up to patients to describe their ambivalence and to decide on the best course of action. The therapist simply helps patients articulate both sides of the situation for clarification. The therapist does not present solutions or "convince " the patient in any way.
• The therapist does provide feedback about the consequences of different paths and advice about how different outcomes can be achieved.
• The therapist does help the patient generate a realistic plan of action.

What Motivational Interviewing Can Provide

Through the process of MI, patients can hope to achieve certain tasks:

• Recognize the severity of their problem
• Recognize how much this problem harms their quality of life
• Understand and list reasons for making a change at this point in time
• Understand exactly why and how change is possible

Importantly, all of these tasks are achieved from within. Using MI, the therapist would not tell a patient:

• "You have a severe problem."
• "Your problem is causing you harms in these areas of your life."
• "You need to take action now. "
• "This is what you need to do."

The therapist instead uses open-ended questions and other strategies to help patients realize for themselves what the situation is and what needs to be done. The patient may answer questions such as:

• What do others in your family think your problem is?
• What do you enjoy about drinking and how does your drinking harm your life?
• How worried are you about the way your drinking affects certain aspects of your life?
• What made you decide to get help now?
• What do you think you should do to get better?

Through open-ended questions, patients elucidate the problem and work through ambivalence. The therapist affirms the choices made, and provides advice and guidance in the process of change.

An Evidence-Based Therapy

MI has been extensively studied and it is proven to help people reduce their drinking or drug use, and as such it is a worthwhile therapy in any addiction treatment program.

To learn more about MI and to find accredited and licensed addiction treatment programs that use this and other real evidence-based therapeutics, call the National Resource Center at (866) 762-3712, at any time, 24 hours a day.