#63- What’s Wrong with Motivational Interviewing?

Of all the years, I’ve been doing therapy I have not once ever heard anyone say a bad word about Motivational Interviewing! Call me cynical… but if you can’t find at least one thing wrong with a therapy modality, - then that’s a major ‘red flag’! Fortunately, this podcast will finally bring MI back to Earth and put it in its rightful place. Sure there’s a lot that is ‘right’ with MI, but often it is those very things that end up bogging down the process. On the positive side – it’s accepting with no power struggles; logical; and direction oriented. But on the negative side – it can be too accepting without challenging the client; logical enough for the client to see through it; and the therapist can easily get caught in his own direction and agenda. For the most part MI considers therapy to be a long term process in that we have to be patient until the client finally ‘comes around’. But a big problem is that sometimes we can’t wait forever until the client finally wakes up and ‘comes around’.