Motivational Interviewing

[Chrismander]

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What's a good place to start reading about MI for a new psych resident? Amazon has a few books:

Motivational Interviewing in Health Care: Helping Patients Change Behavior (Applications of Motivational Interviewin) (Paperback)
http://www.amazon.com/Motivational-...bs_sr_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1233509146&sr=8-3


Motivational Interviewing, Second Edition: Preparing People for Change (Hardcover)
http://www.amazon.com/Motivational-...bs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1233509146&sr=8-1

I think that the MI 2nd edition is the more comprehensive one so I'm leaning towards that one, but I'm debating whether I should start with the MI in Health Care if that one is written for more a beginner's perspective.

There's also one called Motivational Interviewing in the Treatment of Psychological Problems, and they also have a DVD on MI.

Any advice where to start?

 

[billypilgrim37]

MI 2nd edition and the healthcare book are remarkably similar books. They're amazingly easy books to read anyway, so there's no real reason to not just get the slightly longer one, which is essentially the gold standard text. They're both written for wide audiences, are decidedly not technical, and all around just peachy books.

I get all giddy when people are talking about MI 😉

I don't know anything about that third book. It looks intriguing.

As long as Miller and/or Rollnick's name is on it, you won't go wrong.

 

[kugel]

I really like the principles of MI and I think healthcare professionals spend WAY too much effort on things that will never make a difference if the pt. doesn't do the treatment, and WAY too little effort trying to get the pt to actually do what's recommended.

With that said, I think I was taught salesmanship much more effectively during my training as a door-to-door salesman, than when I was taught MI by Miller's own people. At 18, I was taught most of the same principles when I learned to ask, "If I show you that these excellent kitchen knives are definitely affordable, even more affordable than the knives you currently own, you'll buy them, right?" Then I was taught by a hypnotist to add at the end of recommendations, "You will do that, now, right, won't you?" to hammer at the natural interest in agreeing.

When it comes to getting people to do things that they don't normally want to do; con artists are the best, then thugs and dictators (fear is not as good a motivator as self-interest), then advertising firms, then salespeople, then politicians, then pan handlers, then healthcare professionals. We need to move up a couple of rungs in this hierarchy, at least above politicians.