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Essay On Motivational Interviewing

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Dr. Phil is a doctor and has a Ph.D. in psychology but is not a licensed psychologist. He does not actually practice psychology on his popular television show (Mattiuzzi, 2008). Type in Dr. Phil to any web-based search and view the results. Dr. Phil likes to give “advice” on weight loss, relationships, money, love, marriage, good parenting, and so much more. Unfortunately, it is usually far from advice and more borderline bullying. While viewing a shot five-minute clip from Dr. Phil’s show it is clear that he does not incorporate the skills of proper counselling. Motivational interviewing is a common style of counselling to keep in mind while conducting a counselling session. This type of interviewing allows for clients to develop and strengthen their own motivation and commit to changing through collaborative …show more content…

Trust and empathy is incorporated into this style and is something that is blatantly lacking in Dr. Phil’s approach. Empathic confrontation can guide clients in a new direction of creative thinking (A. Ivey, M. Ivey and Zalaquett, 2015). This skill is described as gentle. This is also something Dr. Phil is lacking. While confronting a client it is important to go with them and not against (Ivey et al., 2015). When Dr. Phil says comments such as, “What’s your point?’ and “You’ve never had any idea in your mind that he might have done this, it never occurred to you?” (2014). This is just confrontation, opposed to empathic confrontation. Confrontation is usually met with defensive attitudes and negativity from the client. Using empathetic confrontation allows the client to develop his or her own thoughts and feelings about the situation. Unfortunately, Dr. Phil pushing his on thoughts on the client. If the client is able to come up with their own thoughts and understandings, they will be more likely to make a change

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