When it comes to mental illness, everyone requires their own treatment approach based on their needs and diagnosis.

Living with a mental health disorder can be challenging, but it is possible to live a normal lifestyle by learning how to manage your symptoms on a daily basis. Effective treatment for mental illness includes various therapies, and motivational interviewing is one of them. As a patient-driven and verbal therapy, there are many benefits of motivational interviewing for mental health. It helps to make the changes needed more attainable for the patient. As part of our mental health treatment therapies in Boca, we offer this therapy technique for people who are suffering from mental health issues such as depression and anxiety and need help managing their symptoms.

What is Motivational Interviewing?

Motivational interviewing is a therapy technique that empowers patients to make actionable behavioral changes in their lives through an interview-style discussion with a licensed mental health professional. This technique focuses on change talk where patients verbalize their need and desire to make changes in their lives.

Because the benefits of motivational interviewing for mental health are numerous, it has become a common treatment method for people struggling with various mental health problems and co-occurring disorders like substance abuse. This therapy technique identifies and accepts the fact that individuals who need to make changes in their lives approach counseling at different levels of readiness to change their behavior. In some cases, patients may have thought about making a behavior change but haven’t taken the necessary steps to make that change for themselves. During this fragile time, people may express a fear of change and deal with internal struggles that need to be broken down. This is where motivational interviewing comes in. A motivational interview allows individuals to learn how to effectively change unhealthy behaviors to aid the addiction recovery process.

Motivational Interviewing Benefits for Mental Health

There are many benefits of using motivational interviewing in the treatment of psychological problems and this approach has been proven successful for many patients. For these reasons, our mental health PHP in Pompano also uses motivational interviewing.

Some benefits of using motivational interviewing to treat mental illness include:

• Teaching patients to visualize a future without substance abuse or mental health struggles
• Helping patients realize they have the power to change their lives themselves
• Allowing patients to talk through their problems
• Making patients more receptive to treatment
• Helping patients discover the motivation to make necessary changes and the reasons why these changes are necessary
• Teaching patients to take responsibility for themselves
• Building the patient’s confidence and trust in themselves

Treatment outcomes are improved when there is a motivational spark for behavioral change. One study found that using motivational interviewing was 75% effective in the treatment of psychological diseases.¹ Motivational interviewing used to treat depression specifically was found to result in a more favorable trajectory of the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 and a higher remission rate compared to standard management of depression.²

Because the benefits of motivational interviewing for mental health are so numerous and effective, therapists use this intervention technique to help motivate addicts to stop abusing drugs or alcohol, as well as help those struggling with a mental health illness to effectively manage their symptoms. If you are struggling with a mental illness, you may greatly benefit from this therapy technique at the forefront of your treatment plan. You will be able to move forward with a happy and healthy life in addiction recovery.

At Banyan Mental Health, we understand that mental health disorders can be debilitating, but you do not need to continue to struggle with a mental illness on your own. Our dual diagnosis treatment center in Boca Raton could be the answer to your problems. To learn more about our mental health care and how we can help you on your way to a full recovery, contact us today at 888-280-4763.

Sources:

1. NCBI - Motivational interviewing: a systematic review and meta-analysis
2. NCBI - Motivational interviewing improves depression outcome in primary care: A cluster randomized trial.