Motivational interviewing approaches to substance abuse treatment

Psychology

Motivational Interviewing and Addiction/Substance Abuse

The book Clinicians Guide to Substance Abuse, (Smith & Seymour, 2001), is an apparent, to the point introduction to substance abuse treatment for non-specialist physicians. It offers information on the nature of addiction, brain chemistry, pharmacology, present treatment procedures, and specific populations such as women, young people, and the elderly. It offers easy to understand language which makes the topics easy to understand. This book is a good introduction into the topic of substance abuse and addition as it provides a basic understand of what addiction is and what can cause it along with how to treat it.

Addiction is a multifaceted disorder characterized by obsessive drug use. People who are addicted feel an overpowering, unmanageable need for drugs or alcohol, even in the face of pessimistic consequences. This self-destructive behavior can be hard to comprehend. The response lies in the brain. Recurring drug use changes the brain, causing ongoing changes to the way it looks and functions. These brain alterations get in the way of ones ability to think plainly, implement good judgment, manage their behavior, and feel regular without drugs. These alterations are also accountable, in large part, for the drug yearnings and compulsion to use that make addiction so controlling (Smith & Seymour, 2001).

The pathway to drug addiction often starts with experimentation. There are many people who try drugs out of inquisitiveness, because their friends were doing it, or in an attempt to get rid of some other problem. At first, the substance seems to resolve the problem or make life better, so they use the drug increasingly. But as the addiction advances, obtaining and using the drug becomes increasingly significant and their ability to stop using is compromised. What starts out as a controlled choice turns into a physical and psychological must. The good news is that drug addiction is very treatable. With treatment and support, a person can offset the troublesome effects of addiction and get back control of their life (Smith & Seymour, 2001).

While each drug of abuse creates diverse physical effects, all abused substances share one thing in common. They take over of the brain's regular reward pathways and change the areas of the brain that are accountable for self-control, judgment, emotional directive, inspiration, memory, and learning. Whether one is addicted to nicotine, alcohol, heroin, Xanax, speed, or Vicodin, the effect on the brain is the same. There is an unmanageable craving to use that is more significant than anything else, including family, friends, career, and even ones own health and happiness. Using drugs is a getaway, frequently a temporary fix with lasting serious consequences (Smith & Seymour, 2001).

A lot of people use drugs in order to get away from physical and emotional uneasiness. Maybe one started drinking to numb feelings of depression, smoking pot to deal with stress at home or school, relying on cocaine to boost their vigor and confidence, using sleeping pills to cope with panic attacks, or taking prescription painkillers to alleviate chronic pain. But while drugs might make them feel better in the short-range, efforts to self-medicate in the end do not work out. As an alternative to treating the fundamental problem, drug use merely masks the symptoms. If one takes the drug away the problem is still there, whether it be low self-esteem, nervousness, aloneness, or a miserable family life. In addition, long-drawn-out drug use ultimately brings its own multitude of problems, including major disturbances to normal, daily functioning. Regrettably, the psychological, physical, and social consequences of drug abuse and addiction become worse than the original trouble one was attempting to cope with or stay away from in the first place (Smith & Seymour, 2001).

In the book Motivational interviewing: preparing people for change, (Miller & Rollnick, 2002), the authors have started an interdisciplinary progress in how practitioners can interrelate with patients to make possible behavior change. The book adds substance, extent, lucidity, and substantiation to the clinical and training processes, and will add energy to mainstreaming motivational advances to behavior change in health care. Primary care physicians and practitioners can augment their expert work and improve patient outcomes by learning about motivational interviewing.

Motivational Interviewing can be defined as a client-centered, directive method for making better inherent motivation to change by investigating and resolving ambivalence. It comprises a mixture of philosophical and clinical aspects that together make up the whole of MI. Motivational interviewing distinguishes and recognizes the fact that clients who need to make changes in their lives move toward counseling at dissimilar levels of eagerness to change their behavior. If the counseling is mandated, they may never have thought of altering the behavior in question. A few may have thought about it but not taken action to do it. Others, particularly those freely seeking counseling, may be aggressively trying to alter their behavior and may have been doing so ineffectively for years (Miller & Rollnick, 2002).

"Motivational interviewing is non-judgmental, non-confrontational and non-adversarial" (Miller & Rollnick, 2002). The advance tries to augment the client's consciousness of the possible troubles caused, consequences experienced, and dangers faced as a consequence of the behavior in question. Alternately, therapists help people imagine a better outlook, and become more and more inspired to attain it. Either way, the plan seeks to aid people to think in a different way about their behavior and in the end to think about what might be gained by way of change. Motivational interviewing is measured to be both client-centered and semi-directive. Express understanding, pushes therapists to share with clients their appreciation of the clients' viewpoint (Miller & Rollnick, 2002).

Motivational Interviewing has been known to help people treat addictions. The spirit of Motivational Interviewing is founded on three key notions: teamwork between the therapist and the person with the addiction, rather than confrontation by the therapist; drawing out of ones ideas, rather the therapist imposing their ideas; and independence of the person with the addiction, rather than the therapist having power over them (Miller & Rollnick, 2002).