Motivational interview in drug abuse

Abstract

According to the treatment plan from the motivational interviewing model, we have worked with a 25-year-old male, single and childless. He is currently unemployed and he lives with his grandparents. His parents divorced about 20 years ago, he has a paternal brother of two years and his mother lives in Barcelona. He went to the USMC Huelva for the first time in 2014.

The patient and the family reported emotional and behavioral disorders for several years, which were getting worse since 4 months. He has been convicted for rash driving and he resisted to police officers for several times. The patient was also abusing of several substances like cigarettes, cannabis, MDMA and cocaine.

In order to work with the motivational interviewing with this patient, we proposed five clinical principles: express empathy, create discrepancy, avoid discussion, put a spin on his strength and promote self-efficacy.

The clinical evolution of the proposed patient was positive. As we could see, the motivation for change occurred when the patient perceived a discrepancy between the place where he was and the place he wanted to get. As we saw, the important thing was to define acceptable and accessible targets that represented the progress toward recovery.

In this style, we avoid the persuasion based on the discussion with the patient, instead we assume the validity of the experiences and the subjective perspectives of the patient. The motivational interview represents an alternative to unleash the change, instead of direct persuasion and aggressive confrontation.

Disclosure of interest

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.