Life isn’t easy to navigate for everyone. No one person gets the same experience of life, whether that’s growing up in their childhood, to stumbling through their teenage years. Adulthood is a whole other kettle of fish that only tests you further as a human being.
Addiction is common for anyone that’s had a rough patch or a rough start in life. Addiction takes many forms and it can happen from a variety of contributing factors. A death in the family may cause an individual to spiral out of control. Mental well-being can sometimes lead to relying on a substance, which becomes an addiction.
The point is that anyone can find themselves in the clutches of a drug addiction. Getting out of that addiction can be a different experience for everyone – just like life is.
What is Motivational Interviewing?
Motivational interviewing is a therapeutic technique that has been used successfully in the past to help address addiction. It works by strengthening their commitment and motivation towards a particular goal. For drug addiction, that can be helping to wean off the drugs and keep the habit completely.
As addiction can be a coping mechanism as a result of trauma and coping with issues in life, there can often be a lot of negative voices in the person’s head. What better way to help fight an addiction than to have a positive voice amongst that toxic noise?
With motivational interviewing being developed by Dr. William R. Miller, a Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry at the University of New Mexico, his findings have been published in numerous books and writings.
The process of MI is interpersonal and is all about teaching and encouraging motivation. Being encouraged with motivation is likely something you’ve felt before. Whether that’s a parent urging you to run faster towards a finish line as a child, or having your boss give you a pep talk before a big client meeting.
For some, that encouragement could even be non-existent, so this first experience whilst fighting addiction could be the thing they need to overcome.
How Can Motivational Interviewing Help Drug Addiction?
There are four processes that come with motivational interviewing. Through these stages, the individual can find the voice they need to shout over and drown out negative thoughts.
Each individual session that the person would have for their drug treatment is referred to as an interview. The therapist is seen more as a collaborator between the facilitator and the patient.
When attending an addiction treatment center, it can often feel like you’re being confronted with your darkest fears and thoughts. This can be too much too soon for some, making this a valuable approach method for some. This first stage is all about getting to know the individual with the addiction and establishing that trust and respect.
Patients are then encouraged to set their own goals, rather than a therapist trying to impose what they feel is necessary. With this interviewing technique, it can often get real, genuine responses from those suffering from the addiction on what goals they think are realistic to achieve.
With relapse rates of individuals in recovery for drug and alcohol abuse being around 40-60%, it’s easy to fall into old habits. That’s why motivational interviewing can be a useful way of overcoming the addiction because the goals are set by the patient in question.
Motivational interviewing keeps patients empowered and inspires them to make an actionable and permanent change.
Getting the Help Needed for Drug Addictions
This type of approach is intended to be used with other therapies that you’d get at a place like Findlay Recovery Center. MI doesn’t focus on the underlying causes of addiction, which can often be the main part of addiction treatment.
Tailor-made treatments whether it’s for drug rehab or alcohol rehab are necessary for success. A recovery center can be a beacon of hope for those who are willing to take that first step and get in touch.
MI can be a part of that package that’s given to those who need help with an addiction. By helping bring out the client’s own arguments and planning the route they’ll take in their drug or alcohol treatment, it can be a viable opportunity for recovery. However, it’s not the be-all and end-all for effective addiction treatment.
