Best Way to Evoke Change in Others: Motivational Interviewing

Motivational Interviewing (MI) is a counseling style used to help a client uncover his or her ambivalence toward maladaptive behaviors and to evoke change.

This evidence based interviewing style reminds me of a popular philosophical method that Francis Schaeffer used, "taking the roof off." When you remove the roof off of the house, Shaeffer states that, "each man must stand naked and wounded before the truth of what is."  The reality of one's worldview that which someone lives comes flooding in.  Therefore, the roof must be carefully deconstructed so the house can be reconstructed.  Apply that same concept to behavioral change and you have the crux of Motivational Interviewing.

Initiators of MI in the 80's, Miller and Rollnick (2013), in their book entitled Motivational Interviewing: Helping People Change, stated, "If someone else voices an argument for change, people are likely to respond by expressing a counter-change argument from the other side of their ambivalence.  By continuing to express the arguments against change, people can literally talk themselves out of changing.  Similarly, people can talk themselves into change by continuing to voice prochange arguments" (See source here).

Unless there is a direct intent to harm self or others, it is up to the client to make his own life choices (you can't make someone else's choices for them).  What I love about motivational interviewing is that the counselor explores with the client and helps him expose his own destructive path and the consequences of that path.  Then the counselor can process with the client how to hold himself accountable by using his own values, goals, strengths, and morals.  Typically, people have the resources from within to make better decisions; it's up to the counselor to help pull these out.  If this happends, then the client can take ownership and build confidence in changing her behavior.

As the client uncovers his own values, he may see that drinking excessive amounts of alcohol at work or other maladaptive behaviors might cause his life to come flooding in on him (losing his job, income, house, hobbies, license, ability to support his family, prison, etc.).  Seeing this new reality or truth will help motivate the client to change.

A research journal article reported that MI helps clients change their behavior and that it trumps traditional advice giving in approximately 80% of the cases (See full study here). 

Tony Nichols

 --I find joy in helping other's experience hope and peace in their life.