Motivational Enhancement Therapy: Description of Counseling Approach

William R. Miller
1. OVERVIEW, DESCRIPTION, AND RATIONALE
1.1 General Description of Approach

Motivational Enhancement Therapy (MET) seeks to evoke from clients their own
motivation for change and to consolidate a personal decision and plan for
change. The approach is largely client centered, although planned and directed.
1.2 Goals and Objectives of Approach

As applied to drug abuse, MET seeks to alter the harmful use of drugs. Because
each client sets his or her own goals, no absolute goal is imposed through MET,
although counselors may advise specific goals such as complete abstention. A
broader range of life goals may be explored as well.
1.3 Theoretical Rationale/Mechanism of Action

MET is based on principles of cognitive and social psychology. The counselor seeks
to develop a discrepancy in the client's perceptions between current behavior and
significant personal goals. Consistent with Bem's self-perception theory, emphasis is
placed on eliciting from clients self- motivational statements of desire for and
commitment to change. The working assumption is that intrinsic motivation is a
necessary and often sufficient factor in instigating change.
1.4 Agent of Change

The client is the agent of change, with assistance from the counselor.
1.5 Conception of Drug Abuse/Addiction, Causative Factors

Drug problems are viewed as behaviors under at least partial voluntary control of
the client, which are subject to normal principles of behavior change. Drugs of
abuse are assumed to offer inherent motivating properties to the drug abuser, which
by definition have overridden competing motivations. The task in MET is to elicit
and strengthen competing motivations.

2. CONTRAST TO OTHER COUNSELING APPROACHES

2.1 Most Similar Counseling Approaches

MET bears many similarities to Rogerian client-centered counseling but is

directive rather than nondirective. There are also certain similarities to cognitive
therapy and reality therapy.
2.2 Most Dissimilar Counseling Approaches

MET is strikingly dissimilar from counseling approaches designed to oppose denial

and break down defenses through direct confrontation. Furthermore, MET differs from
behavioral approaches in that no direct advice or skill training is provided.

3. FORMAT
3.1 Modalities of Treatment

MET is typically conducted as individual counseling, though family members

may also be present and engaged. Group MET is conceivable but untested.
3.2 Ideal Treatment Setting

MET has been tested and found effective in both outpatient and inpatient
settings. There is no necessary or ideal setting.
3.3 Duration of Treatment

MET is typically brief, limited to two to four sessions that each last 1 hour.
3.4 Compatibility With Other Treatments

MET can be a suitable prelude to other treatment approaches designed to enhance

treatment response. It has been shown to increase client compliance in
subsequent alcoholism treatment and thereby to improve outcome.
3.5 Role of Self-Help Programs

MET does not formally involve any self- help group, although participation in such
groups may be part of a client's chosen change plan. MET is wholly compatible with
a 12-step approach.

4. COUNSELOR CHARACTERISTICS AND TRAINING

4.1 Educational Requirements

MET has been effectively administered by prebachelor's- level university

students working as supervised paraprofessional counselors. Education level may
not be a critical determinant of effectiveness in using MET.
4.2 Training, Credentials, and Experience Required

Specific training in MET is important. A skillful MET practitioner makes the process
look easy and natural, but in fact the component skills require substantial practice
and shaping.
Initial intensive training of 2 to 3 days with subsequent supervised experience in
MET is recommended. Training initially focuses on the rationale for MET and the
establishment of sound reflective listening skills without which other aspects of
MET cannot be implemented effectively. Once these skills are in place, training
proceeds to other strategies for enhancing motivation and strengthening commitment
to change. Counselors new to this approach are unlikely to implement it
successfully, based on a single workshop, without ongoing supervision.
4.3 Counselor's Recovery Status

The counselor's recovery status is largely irrelevant in MET. Some research has
found that counselors in early recovery tend to overidentify with clients and have
difficulty in separating their own issues and advice from the counseling process.
This would be a particular hindrance in MET.
4.4 Ideal Personal Characteristics of Counselor

MET requires a high level of therapeutic empathy as defined by Carl Rogers (as
opposed to empathy in the sense of having had similar experiences). High
interpersonal warmth and congruence are also desirable. Counselors who cannot
suspend their own needs, perceptions, and advice are ill suited to MET.

4.5 Counselor's Behaviors Prescribed

Common counselor behaviors in MET include asking open-ended questions,

reflective listening, reframing, and supporting. A key strategy is developing
discrepancy by eliciting the client's own verbal expression of problems, concerns,
reasons for change, and optimism regarding change. Counselors are instructed to
"roll with" resistance rather than confronting it directly. Emphasis is also given to
supporting client self- efficacy, the perception that change is possible and can be
accomplished by the client. Assessment findings are often used as personal feedback
to instill client motivation.
4.6 Counselor's Behaviors Proscribed

Most important is for the counselor to avoid what is termed the confrontation/denial
trap, in which the counselor is placed in the position of defending the presence of a
problem and the need for change, while the client argues that there is no problem or
need for change. Argumentation is generally proscribed. The counselor also avoids
taking on an "expert" role, which implies that the counselor will impart the solution to
the client. Relatedly, counselors are encouraged to avoid "closed" (short answer)
questions and specifically to avoid asking three questions in a row. Diagnostic labeling
as problem drinker or alcoholic, for example, is specifically avoided.

4.7 Recommended Supervision

Direct observation of sessions is vital to effective supervision with MET. Counselors

are least able to observe or convey the very behaviors they most need to change. In
advance of or during supervision, supervisors should review videotape or audiotape
of sessions. It is particularly helpful for the supervisor and those supervised to use a
structured observation sheet in following the sessions, coding the content of
counselor and client responses as a means of attending to process rather than being
caught up in content. Specific workshops for trainers of motivational interviewing
are offered periodically.
5. CLIENT-COUNSELOR RELATIONSHIP
5.1 What Is the Counselor's Role?

The counselor's primary role is to elicit and consolidate the client's intrinsic
motivations for change. This facilitator role may include minor aspects as educator and
collaborator. The expert/adviser role is deemphasized. When personal assessment
feedback is provided as part of MET, the counselor temporarily assumes

the role of educator.

5.2 Who Talks More?

The client should do more than half of the talking, except during a period of personal
assessment feedback when the counselor has a substantial explanatory role.
5.3 How Directive Is the Counselor?

MET sessions are client centered but directive. There is a specific objective that the
counselor pursues through systematic strategies. When MET is successfully
conducted, however, the client does not feel directed, coerced, or advised. Direction
is typically accomplished through open-ended questions and selective reflection of
client material rather than through more overtly confrontational strategies and advice
giving. To use a metaphor, the client and counselor are working a jigsaw puzzle
together. Rather than putting the pieces in place while the client watches, the
counselor helps to construct the frame, then puts pieces on the table for the client to
place.
5.4 Therapeutic Alliance

The rapid establishment of a working therapeutic alliance is an important aspect of

MET. The basic conditions of client-centered therapy provide a strong foundation,
with particular emphasis on the strategies of open-ended questions and reflective
listening. Such supportive and motivation-building strategies are employed until
resistance abates and the client shows indication of being ready to discuss change.

6. TARGET POPULATIONS
6.1 Clients Best Suited for This Counseling Approach

Research to date has found MET to be effective with a broad range of severity of
alcohol problems. No unique markers of differential response have been identified.
Court- mandated clients appear to respond as favorably as those who are selfreferred. One study has shown MET to be differentially effective (relative to a
behavioral approach) with clients in the earliest stages of change (i.e., most
unmotivated). MET has been evaluated well with problem drinkers, but its results are
less studied with other drug problems. Two studies have reported positive results
with marijuana and heroin users. The basic therapeutic style would remain the same
regardless of target drug, but specific content (e.g., assessment feedback) may vary.

6.2 Clients Poorly Suited for This Counseling Approach

MET may be insufficiently directive for clients who desire clear direction and
advice. Research to date has identified no client characteristics that predict poorer
response to MET than to alternative approaches. Brief counseling in general may
be less effective as a stand-alone treatment with more severely impaired clients.
7. ASSESSMENT

MET commonly includes a structured assessment of use, consequences, addiction,

biomedical sequelae, family history, and other risk factors. A variety of specific
instruments could be used to assess these dimensions. Instruments that are
sensitive to early stages of impairment are particularly desirable. A common
sequence is to conduct a brief motivational interview to prepare the client for
assessment. This is followed by structured assessment including the above
dimensions. A third session then provides the client with personal feedback
regarding the findings from assessment in relation to norms.
8. SESSION FORMAT AND CONTENT
8.1 Format for a Typical Session

The content of an MET session depends on the client's stage of motivation.

Prochaska and colleagues (1992) have described four stages of readiness:

1. Precontemplation, in which the individual is not considering change.

2. Contemplation, in which the individual is ambivalent, weighing the pros and
cons of change.
3. Determination or preparation, where the balance tips in favor of change
and the individual begins considering options.
4. Action, which involves the individual taking specific steps to
accomplish change.
With precontemplators, the counselor explores perceived positive and negative
aspects of use. Open-ended questions are used to elicit client expression, and
reflective paraphrase is used to reinforce key points of motivation. During a session
following structured assessment, most of the time is devoted to explaining
feedback to the client. Later in MET, attention is devoted to developing and
consolidating a change plan.
8.2 Several Typical Session Topics or Themes

The theme of the session is typically determined by the counselor, but specific
content within the theme is provided by the client. Examples of common
themes include:

Good and not-so-good things about use.

A typical day involving use.
Reasons to quit or change.
Ideas about how change might occur.

Sessions commonly begin with open-ended questions and end with a

summary reflection.
8.3 Session Structure

Sessions are rather structured, although in presentation they are flexible and
client centered.
8.4 Strategies for Dealing With Common Clinical Problems

Resistance of all types is met by a reflective "rolling with" strategy, rather than direct
confrontation or opposition. For example, client minimization or rationalization might
be met with various forms of reflective listening, such as double-sided reflection, where
both sides of ambivalence are captured. The counselor might also agree with the client's
point but then reframe it. Standard program rules (e.g., regarding coming to sessions
under the influence) may, of course, still be enforced.

8.5 Strategies for Dealing With Denial, Resistance, or Poor Motivation

The central characteristic of MET is as follows: Resistance and poor motivation are not
regarded as client characteristics but rather as cognitions and behaviors subject to
interpersonal influence. Research demonstrates that a counselor can drive resistance
levels up and down dramatically according to his or her personal counseling style. A
respectful, reflective approach is used throughout MET with minimal advice or
direction. The goal is still confrontation in the sense of bringing the client face to face
with a difficult reality and thereby initiating change. Common strategies for decreasing
resistance behaviors include variations on reflective listening (e.g., amplified reflection,
in which the counselor takes the client's resistance a step further), reframing or giving a
new meaning to what the client has said, and selective agreement. Many of these take
the form of the counselor giving voice to the client's resistance, seeking to elicit the
client's own verbalizations of the need for change.

8.6 Strategies for Dealing With Crises

Crises often offer particularly good windows of opportunity for motivation. Rapid
availability of the MET counselor is desirable. Beyond the taking of immediate
actions necessary to ensure safety, counseling strategies remain largely the same.

8.7 Counselor's Response to Slips and Relapses

Occurrences of renewed use are queried through open-ended questions and are
explored through reflective listening. Judgmental responses are carefully avoided.
The client's own perceptions of the slip or relapse are explored, and renewed
attention is given to the change plan and to what if anything may have been faulty
in the prior plan.
9. ROLE OF SIGNIFICANT OTHERS IN TREATMENT

Significant others (SOs) may be involved in MET sessions and can be useful
sources of motivational material and change plans. The counselor must ensure that
the SO does not behave in a manner that elicits resistance and inhibits motivation
for change. The SO's primary role is to offer his or her own observations and
perceptions, with focus remaining on eliciting the client's intrinsic motivation. The
counselor may also employ MET strategies to strengthen the SO's own motivation
for change and elicit plans for behavior change. SO involvement can also make
reasons for change more salient for the client. The implicit goal remains to instigate
change in the client.
REFERENCE

Prochaska, J.O.; DiClemente, C.C.; and Norcross, J.C. In search of how people
change: Applications to addictive behaviors. Am Psychol 47:1102-1114, 1992.
AUTHOR

William R. Miller, Ph.D.

Regents Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry
Center on Alcoholism, Substance
Abuse, and Addictions (CASAA)
University of New Mexico
Albuquerque, NM 87131

University of New Mexico

Albuquerque, NM 87131