Motivational Interviewing for Addiction

Motivational interviewing for addiction that empowers change, builds hope, and supports lasting recovery at Purpose Healing.

What are the Core Aspects of Motivational Interviewing for Addiction Treatment?

Motivational interviewing incorporates four key processes. These four processes can be remembered using the acronym “PACE,” which stands for:

• Partnership: Active collaboration between the client and provider. Professionals using MI show curiosity about your perspective using reflective listening. You, the client, will guide the conversation.
• Acceptance: Providers demonstrate acceptance toward the client. Your therapist will show intent to understand your situation, concerns, and decisions.
• Compassion: Providers promote the client’s welfare and prioritize their needs. Your therapist will express empathy and care.
• Evocation: The process of finding and exploring a client’s existing motivations, values, resources, and strengths. You’ll work together to explore reasons for sobriety and associated behaviors.

After exploring your thoughts, concerns, values, and motivations, it’s time to plan for behavior change by creating an action plan. Often, this will involve continued therapy, but now, your incentives for recovery will be fresh in your mind.

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What are the 5 Stages of Change In Terms of Substance Use and Recovery?

Motivational interviewing is rooted in the transtheoretical model and stages of change framework. This process has five stages. It describes the steps a person takes toward and in recovery from addiction:

• Pre-contemplation: Actively engaging in addictive behaviors, not yet thinking about making a change.
• Contemplation: Recognizing the need for change and considering it as a possibility.
• Preparation: Weighing the pros and cons of making a change, developing a plan for how to deal with urges and triggers.
• Action: Deciding to change your behavior and making successful attempts to do so.
• Maintenance: Sustaining sobriety (or abstinence from other addictive behaviors) long-term.

A therapist using motivational interviewing may do so to guide clients from one stage to the next. For example, if you’re in the contemplation stage, you might work with a therapist using motivational interviewing skills to move to the preparation stage, and then to the action stage.

What Happens in a Motivational Interviewing Session for Substance Use Disorders?

You might wonder what to expect in a typical motivational interviewing session for addiction. Common motivational interviewing techniques include:

• Open-ended questions. A mental health professional asks questions like, “Can you tell me about how alcohol has affected your relationships?” “How would you like your drinking to change?” or “What are the negative consequences of your substance use?”
• Value card sorting. Activities like value card sorting can help you identify your personal core values. You may then discuss how those values conflict with substance use.
• Exploring options. Discussing possible actions you can take to support your sobriety. What will help you succeed in the therapy process, stay in treatment, and keep working toward recovery?
• Therapists affirm your successes and strengths to help facilitate self-confidence. Many people do not see how far they’ve come, so this can be important.

Motivational interviewing practices play a distinct role in substance abuse treatment. Rarely are they used on a standalone basis. While you may participate in MI in our programs, we incorporate other types of therapy.

Understanding the Role of Motivational Interviewing in Treating Chemical Dependency

Motivational interviewing is a brief intervention. This means that it is short-term. Often, MI is conducted over the course of about three sessions. The role of motivational interviewing is to get clients engaged in treatment and recovery.

It doesn’t provide the full set of skills you’ll need to navigate sobriety. Other treatments for substance use disorders are paired with MI to help clients with goals like building coping skills, improving communication, and learning to talk themselves through urges to use.

Knowing why you want to be sober and why treatment is worth it matters. Still, it’s not all there is to recovery. It’s important that treatment is comprehensive. Drug and alcohol dependence should be addressed from a whole-person perspective.

The Role of MI in Comprehensive Substance Abuse and Mental Health Treatment at Purpose Healing Center

Purpose combines motivational counseling techniques, like MI and motivational enhancement therapy (MET), with other evidence-based treatments. Other approaches used at our centers include, but aren’t necessarily limited to:

Behavioral Therapies for Addiction

Behavioral therapies are popular in the field of clinical psychology. These treatments, which often include modalities like cognitive behavioral therapy and derivatives (e.g., dialectical behavior therapy), are effective in facilitating behavioral modification in substance abuse.

MI helps you find your drive for recovery. These treatments help people work through negative thought patterns, identify healthy coping strategies, and problem-solve, among other goals. For example, improving communication skills.

Experiential Therapy and Recreation

Experiential therapies are characterized by the use of hands-on activities. Examples include art therapy, music therapy, and exercise therapy. These interventions, as well as recreation, can support skill development and self-esteem while helping people find healthy outlets.

Dual-Diagnosis Treatment

Many people in addiction treatment have at least one other mental health disorder. For example, anxiety or depression. Purpose Healing Center provides dual-diagnosis treatment, which addresses drug abuse and co-occurring disorders simultaneously.

Trauma-Focused Therapies

A significant portion of people struggling with substance use are trauma survivors. When this is the case, trauma-focused therapies can be advantageous in addressing alcohol and drug addiction and its underlying causes.

Family Therapy and Couples Counseling

Family involvement is associated with positive outcomes in addiction treatment. We strongly encourage loved ones (e.g., immediate or extended family members, romantic partners) to participate in therapy sessions when appropriate.

Medication-Assisted Treatment

Medications are available for people with some substance use disorders, including opioid addiction and alcohol use disorder. Medication-assisted treatment (MAT) pairs these medications with therapy services to support favorable treatment outcomes.

12-Step Programming

The Twelve Steps act as guiding principles for addiction recovery. Used in mutual help groups like Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and Narcotics Anonymous (NA), our treatment programs offer a 12-step program in conjunction with therapy and other activities.