Motivational Interview Paper

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Motivational Interviewing and its Effect on Substance Abusers Heather Hayes Tusculum College 11/19/14 Abstract Motivational interviewing is a client-centered counseling approach developed by Miller and Rollnick that is goal directed and focuses on the therapeutic relationship to elicit change. This paper seeks to support the effectiveness of MI and details of key aspects of its approach. This method helps clients to resolve ambivalence and support to facilitate change. The therapist supports self-efficacy. MI stimulates the motivation of the client to enhance readiness to change. The treatment plan must be followed and the client will need to have goals set that should be reached. Rolling with resistance is important to…show more content…
This counseling approach was first used to treat problem drinkers, but it is used today for other types of addictions and many different types of issues. Motivational interviewing transfers the focus of the expertise of the therapist, to the personal motivation of the client (Lewis et al., 2015). The client absolutely must have the motivation to change with this technique in order for it to be successful. When treating individuals with a substance abuse problem or chemical dependency, it can be very challenging for clinicians to get clients motivated to stop use. Motivational interviewing understands that there will be relapse and works with the client to overcome barriers. This paper will discuss motivational interviewing in detail and how it may be beneficial for substance/alcohol abusers or individuals with addictive behavior. This concept is based on the idea that the client is responsible for choosing and carrying out personal change. This type of counseling approach may not be suited for everyone but it has been successful many times. Techniques used in MI, such as empowerment and self-efficacy, help to facilitate change (Lewis et al.,…show more content…
Eighty one participants from a university based community counseling center were assigned to two groups, treatment and controlled. The counselors in the controlled group had no training in MI, while counselors in the treatment group were skilled in MI. There were 43 counselors in the study that were advanced graduate students in their first or second semester of practicum. The study revealed that clients in the treatment group attended more counseling sessions and tended to be less likely to terminate therapy early in sessions. Client’s adherence was increased by motivational interviewing (Young,

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