Guide to Motivational Interviewing in Addiction Counseling
Clinical Review by:
Published:
Oct 24, 2024
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04:19 p.m.
ET
Motivational Interviewing – or “MI” – is a counseling technique that helps people intrinsically motivate themselves to make positive changes in their lives. MI can be used for a variety of mental and physical health challenges and has been found beneficial for those who feel they may want to change but aren’t ready to make active steps towards change yet. Motivational interviewing is a unique therapy tool that helps empower people in their road to recovery from addiction and take responsibility over their own recovery process.
What is Motivational Interviewing?
Motivational Interviewing (MI) is a therapy technique that was created to help motivate clients who were ambivalent to changing their behaviors. The concept of MI was originally developed in 1983 by William R. Miller during his treatment of problem drinking. Miller noticed the difficulty in motivating those with substance abuse issues to participate in treatment to change their behavior.
MI explores a person's internal struggle and resistance to change, and how it can be resolved. MI differs from other therapy techniques in that it does not use external methods to motivate change, but rather aligns with a person's own thoughts and beliefs to help them be motivated to change. The MI process includes four components: engaging, focusing, evoking, and planning. These components are coupled with reflective listening from both the therapist and client to help remove resistance to change.
What are common Motivational Interviewing techniques?
There are four techniques that are used during the MI process. The acronym “OARS” is used to represent:
Open Questions: Asking questions that don’t elicit a yes or no response, but encourage a patient to open up.
Affirmations: Statements used by a therapist to recognize a client's strengths and behaviors that are moving toward positive change.
Reflective Listening: Using reflective listening helps close communication gaps to reduce assumptions during the therapy process.
Summaries: Reiterating what a client has stated, particularly after discussions that indicate a willingness to change. This can lead to further discussions or steps toward changing behavior.
What is Motivational Interviewing used to treat?
Motivational Interviewing is often used to treat various addictions or substance use disorders and for managing physical health conditions.
MI can be used to treat:
Substance abuse
Smoking
Weight loss
Medication compliance
Cancer treatment
Diabetes treatment
Asthma protocols
Heart disease management
Some addictions, such as Gambling Addiction and Gaming Disorder
If you’re interested in pursuing virtual Motivational Interviewing, Birches Health offers remote therapy sessions from the comfort of your own home. Birches’ therapists have experience using Motivational Interviewing to treat a variety of diagnoses.
Here are some options for getting started with Birches Health:
You are also welcome to call 833-483-3838 or email at hello@bircheshealth.com to connect with the Birches team as soon as possible.
Can Motivational Interviewing be done virtually or only in-person?
Motivational Interviewing can be done both virtually and in-person. There are benefits to both options when it comes to providing care. For some, in-person MI can allow for a more personal connection between a therapist and client, which can help build trust and receptiveness to change.
Virtual MI can help reduce barriers to seeking out treatment such as illness or inability to physically make it into an office for treatment. One study found that remote MI had a positive effect on patients treating pain, disabilities and on overall self-efficacy for change.
Motivational Interviewing vs. CBT and other types of therapy
Motivational Interviewing has an end goal of working to reduce ambivalence regarding changing behaviors and increasing personal motivation to encourage the desire to want to change. Other types of therapy that are more person-centered do not take this approach.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), for example, looks at negative thoughts and feelings that impact behavior and how that process can be interrupted or altered to elicit more positive behaviors. CBT does not examine an individual's motivation to change their behavior but rather explore why a behavior occurs and how to change it.
Benefits of Motivational Interviewing
There are several benefits of Motivational Interviewing that make it a popular option for therapists to use to treat certain conditions. These include:
Building client’s confidence and trust in themselves
Helping clients take responsibility for their actions
Reducing rates of future relapse
Helping clients become more receptive to change
Giving clients a sense of control in changing their lives on their own terms
Bringing a client internal motivation for change rather than external factors
MI can also be a cost-effective option of treatment as it is goal oriented and can be done as a brief intervention. Motivational interviewing is also easy to implement across multiple treatment types, such as inpatient hospitalization, individual therapy and outpatient settings. MI can also be paired with other types of therapy to increase efficacy, such as CBT.
Challenges of Motivational Interviewing
While Motivational Interviewing is an effective treatment option for many, there are certain circumstances where MI might not be the best approach. MI is most effective for people who have mixed feelings about wanting to change their negative behaviors. If someone is either highly motivated to change or has zero desire to change their behavior, then MI may not be as effective for them.
