Motivational Interviewing - A Therapeutic Approach For Helping People Bring Change Into Their Lives
Lack of motivation can serve as a significant hurdle in addiction treatment. Back in the 1980s, the prevailing thought was that lack of motivation must be addressed in therapy through confrontation. While therapists were implementing this process, they would list reasons why the change was needed, lay the negatives on the table that are associated with lack of change, and put pressure on the person to change as a means to gain motivation. Miller and Rollnick’s motivational interviewing has a very different perspective on it; it utilizes a non-confrontational and collaborative effort to spark motivation and initiate change. This theory supports therapists engaging with the client to explore and witness his/her feelings rather than acting in a combative way. This process will allow the client to find his/her own motivation to change. The therapist's role becomes supportive, wherein the therapist will enable the client to make their own choices and arrive at their own conclusions without any outside pressure.
Read on to learn about the critical elements of Motivational Interviewing The spirit of motivation is comprised of 3 components, and they are as follows:
1. Collaboration Collaboration is where the therapist will attempt to see the situation through the client's point of view instead of being confrontational with the client. The goal of the therapist is to act as a support rather than a persuader. This allows the client to develop trust towards the therapist, which is difficult in a confrontational atmosphere. The entire process of collaboration is solely focused on mutual understanding and not confrontation, which might make the client feel guilty of his/her actions and might lose motivation to change.
2. Drawing Out Other forms of therapy, such as cognitive therapy, use the approach of giving clients the information as an encouragement to their process of thinking, beliefs or behaviours. Such an approach can trigger feelings of defensiveness in the client, which knocks out the whole purpose of motivational interviewing. In motivational interviewing, rather than imposing their own opinions based on their belief, the therapist draws out the individual's own ideas. After all, the motivation and wish to change comes from the person with the addiction, not from the therapist. The individual must want to bring the change only then a therapist would be able to push him/her into making that happen. So the therapist's job here is to draw out the client's real motivation and skills for change and not instruct the person with addiction what to do.
3. Autonomy Other treatment models emphasize the doctor or the therapist as an authority figure. At the same time, motivational interviewing acknowledges that the true power of bringing changes rests within the person with the addiction and not within the therapist. However, this places all the power on the client, and the therapist respects the client's responsibility and decision making.
How motivational interviewing brings changes to an individual’s life? There are four guiding principles on which motivational interviewing is based upon. Every individual's process of overcoming addiction may be different, but the therapist has to hold to these principles throughout each individual's process. These principles play a crucial role when it comes to establishing trust within the therapeutic relationship.
--> Help people to make up their minds More often than not, people with addiction are indecisive and uncertain about their willingness to change. These are the people who have already experienced the consequences of their addiction, which have brought them into treatment. They do not like the idea of giving that up because they have developed their addiction as a way of coping with life.
Counselling services in Ottawa aim to help people through their services like motivational interviewing. This helps to make up their mind about how to move forward through the stages of change and help them make more rational choices.
--> Develop a new understanding Therapists help individuals to reach a new understanding of themselves. The process of motivational interviewing recognizes that it is natural for the person to change their mind often, so they offer different interpretations of situations that occur in the stages of change to typically boost a person's willingness to change.
--> Show empathy and acceptance. People with addictions often go about with this mindset that they will always be judged and mocked at. Therapists' role here becomes that of an understanding individual who tries to see everything through the client's perspective to better understand the reasons behind the person's condition. This is known as empathy, and showing compassion does not mean that the therapist agrees with the person, but they ensure the person that the individual's behaviour makes sense to them. This creates room for acceptance.
--> Being supportive
The therapist will always support the individual’s own willingness to make the changes they want.
If you are seeking help and finding a program that incorporates motivational interviewing in Ottawa, you will find the most dedicated and trained psychotherapists at Ottawa Counselling and Psychotherapy Centre. We offer counselling in English, French, Spanish and Portuguese. Contact us to find out more.