Motivational Interviewing For Mental Health Treatment At Bedrock

Motivational Interviewing encourages positive attitude changes to reduce symptoms of mental illness. MI is a combination of reflective listening, reframing, and affirmations.

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Motivational interviewing (MI) is an evidence-based treatment that helps patients resolve ambivalent feelings toward making positive life changes for their overall well-being.

Motivational interviewing is used in mental health treatment, parenting, and even for managing physical health disorders.

Bedrock Recovery Center provides MI to help patients explore their motivators and move toward positive changes in their mental health.

How Does Motivational Interviewing Work?

Motivational interviewing establishes a goal of helping the patient develop a positive attitude toward change.

Through MI, the patient feels empowered to make positive changes to address their mental illness.

Clinicians use several techniques to facilitate this change, including practicing reflective listening, reframing, using affirmations, etc.

Therapeutic Techniques Used In Motivational Interviewing

Treatment centers may use various techniques in motivational interviewing, including asking open-ended questions to encourage the patient to talk.

Another technique is using reflections by rephrasing statements to capture the meaning and feeling conveyed by the patient and encourage personal exploration to help them understand their motivations.

Motivational interviewing may also be combined with contingency management (CM). Contingency management provides motivational incentives to treat mental health conditions.

The healthcare provider may also make affirmations to help build rapport with the patient and support them through the change process.

The Stages Of Change

The Stages of Change describe readiness to change as a dynamic process in which the benefits and disadvantages of changing create ambivalence.

Ambivalence is a conflicted state of opposing attitudes or feelings. They are stuck between
wanting to change and not wanting to change simultaneously.

The Stages of Change model offers a way of understanding people’s processes as they change a specific behavior. The change process is represented in five parts.

The first part is the initial stage, where the person isn’t considering change, to the contemplative stage, where there is active ambivalence about change, and to preparation, where the person begins to plan to change.

These steps then lead to action, where the person takes the steps to achieve change, and action leads to the final stage of maintenance, where a person sustains the change long term.

Who Benefits From Motivational Interviewing?

Motivational interviewing may be used as a treatment option for various mental health conditions, including bipolar disorder, depression, anxiety, and psychosis.

MI is mainly for those who are reluctant to seek treatment or take medication for their mental health disorders.

How Does Motivational Interviewing Work With Other Therapies At Bedrock?

Motivational interviewing is used at Bedrock with various other behavioral health therapies such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), group therapy, dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), and other psychotherapies.

Treatment plans may involve various levels of care, including inpatient treatment and an aftercare plan that may include support groups, intensive outpatient treatment (IOP), and partial hospitalization programs (PHP).

Our treatment facilities also offer dual diagnosis treatment for multiple mental health disorders. We also provide a variety of other treatment approaches and mental health services.

Ask About Mental Health Treatment At Bedrock

If you or a loved one are seeking treatment programs for mental health issues in Massachusetts, we can help. Contact Bedrock Recovery Center to learn more about our treatment services.

  1. California Department of Health Care Services https://www.dhcs.ca.gov/Pages/DMC-ODS-Contingency-Management.aspx#:~:text=Contingency%20Management%20(CM)%20is%20an,that%20are%20negative%20for%20stimulants./
  2. Columbia University Irving Medical Center https://www.columbiadoctors.org/treatments-conditions/motivational-enhancement-therapy/
  3. McGill University https://www.mcgill.ca/familymed/files/familymed/motivational_counseling.pdf/
  4. National Library of Medicine: PubMed https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2719555/#:~:text=Motivational%20interviewing%20(MI)%20is%20a%20technique%20developed%20by%20psychologists%20Rollnick,could%20make%20their%20lives%20better./
  5. National Library of Medicine: PubMed https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3330017/
  6. Sage Journals https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/070674371105601102/

Written by Bedrock Recovery Center Editorial Team

Published on: January 22, 2024

© 2025 Bedrock Recovery Center | All Rights Reserved

* This page does not provide medical advice.

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