The Motivation to Change is Inside You: MET Therapy and How it Works

Growing up you were probably told "you can do anything you want to do, as long as you set your mind on it," and as a kid you probably believed it, but being an adult is hard and you lose sight of that mantra, which was drilled into your head. Motivational Enhancement Therapy is there to reinvigorate your self-worth and help you get back to a place where you know you have control over your own life. Unlike typical therapies, the therapist's main goal is only to guide you to your own motivation. The key focus for MET is to ignite your internal motivation so you can find solutions to address your problems. You have the power to change any aspect of your life to make it the one you want to live. The therapist is just there to help you unlock what you already know. MET is a very successful type of therapy for treating many different problems including substance abuse. This is in part due to the fact that MET requires you to look within, examine your life, where you want to be and what is stopping you from achieving that. For this to be successful you have to have trust in your therapist, which is why this type of therapy is only done in one on one sessions. You will be sharing your goals and desires with this person and then using those to figure out what changes you need to make, it is a delicate process and a good therapist will understand that. It’s your therapist’s job to create an environment where you feel comfortable enough to do that. MET works in three general phases, motivation, contemplation, and empowerment. Phase One: Building Motivation for Change In this first step you will be building you motivation. Your therapist will help you with this by active listening, addressing the consequences that you see in you bad habits and growing your optimism. That last part is key, without hope or optimism it will be hard to find the motivation to make the changes that are necessary. This step is not always that easy, but you have the ability to talk yourself into almost anything, which is why self-motivational statements will make your feel empowered and give you the extra fuel you need to get the ball rolling. Phase Two: Strengthening the Commitment to Change After phase one you’re going to feel fired up and be ready to conquer the world, the therapist will capitalize on this and keep that momentum moving forward. That’s why in this step you and your therapist will talk a lot about your reasons for change and make a plan of action. The underlying message here is “Only you can change your drinking (or whatever problem you are facing), and it’s up to you.” Phase Three: Following Through At this point you have your motivation and a plan for change, now it’s time to make sure you put that plan into effect. Your therapist will help you review your progress as you are putting your plan into action. He or she will also be there to guide you into renewing your motivation, which will continue to strengthen your commitment to the plan and making the changes. Example Detox to Rehab has a good example of what a basic conversation would look like between a therapist and someone working through a drinking problem: THERAPIST: What else conce s you about your drinking? CLIENT: Well, I’m not sure I’m conce ed about it, but I do wonder sometimes if I’m drinking too much. T: Too much for . . . C: For my own good, I guess. I mean it’s not like it’s really serious, but sometimes when I wake up in the morning I feel really awful, and I can’t think straight most of the morning. T: It messes up your thinking, your concentration. C: Yes, and sometimes I have trouble remembering things. T: And you wonder if that might be because you’re drinking too much. C: Well, I know it is sometimes. T: You’re pretty sure about that. But maybe there’s more. C: Yeah—even when I’m not drinking, sometimes I mix things up, and I wonder about that. T: Wonder if . . . C: If alcohol’s pickling my brain, I guess. T: You think that can happen to people, maybe to you. C: Well, can’t it? I’ve heard that alcohol kills brain cells. T: Um-hmm. I can see why that would worry you. C: But I don’t think I’m an alcoholic or anything. T: You don’t think you’re that bad off, but you do wonder if maybe you’re overdoing it and damaging yourself in the process. C: Yeah. T: Kind of a scary thought. What else worries you? MET works well for addictions as a part of a treatment plan however, it works with many other problems a person needs to work through as well.