11. Latently Motivated

The term unmotivated is actually a misleading one. The “un” prefix implies the absence of motivation. However, the humanistic approach posits a motivation in everyone in the shape of a positive core. This means that the “unmotivated” client does have motivation, but it is dormant and undetectable in his behavior.

Therefore, an unmotivated person can be called latently motivated, possessing as he does a motivation that is too weak to be expressed. Redefining the lack of motivation thus can help to instill in the motivational worker a more hopeful approach to his client (Motivational Work, Part 1: Values and Theory, pages 79 – 83).

The motivational process is therefore directed at enhancing the life force in the latently motivated client so that it is made explicit in his behavior, at which point he becomes manifestly motivated.

Case Study

Karen is the daughter of a single mother. Because her mother feels unable to take care of her, Karen is sent to live with her maternal grandmother. Apart from when Karen stays with her mother for brief periods, they only meet when the mother visits the grandmother.

Her Mother dies

When Karen is seven, her mother dies. She is not allowed at the funeral as she’s considered too young to attend. She is then moved to her great aunt, who is a nurse and who lives alone. She lives with her for the rest of her childhood.

On leaving school at 16, she takes a job as a shop assistant. Then in her early twenties, she meets an older man, a famous poet, whom she soon marries. Karen leaves her job, becomes a housewife, and feels that her marriage to a well-known person boosts her self-esteem.

A Son is Born

After a short while, she gives birth to a son. Her husband starts to drink heavily and suffers increasing bouts of DTs, during which he acts threateningly towards both Karen and their son. After 13 years of marriage, Karen files for divorce and returns to work as a shop assistant. She enters a string of affairs with wealthy married men, who invariably end up abandoning her.

Somatic Symptoms

Karen experiences increasing back pain and starts to lose contact with her son and grandchildren. She manages to procure pain killers to deal with her back pain and starts to abuse them. She also ignores the directions she’s been given to prevent her back trouble from deteriorating and develops a range of symptoms, including asthma, which she is diagnosed as having in a mild form.

This she uses to demand different kinds of support from those around her, and her friends and acquaintances start to avoid her. Karen also sustains a number of injuries from a series of accidents, such as a serious concussion and a broken leg after having slipped on the ice. This means that she has to be hospitalized for lengthy periods. Her doctor, whom she has contacted because of her asthma, refers her to a psychotherapist, who concludes that her symptoms are largely psychosomatic.

Meeting with the Psychotherapist

On her first meeting with the psychotherapist, she appears open and receptive; however, the more the therapist talks to her, the more she feels an emptiness. Karen seems to be wearing a mask to conceal her “real” emotions and talks only about superficial, non-personal matters.

When the therapist tries to raise the issue of her life situation, Karen does nothing but imply that she is a victim of circumstances. Her problem is, she says, attributable solely to her different diseases, and it is those, and only those, that she needs help with. Karen is unable to give any personal explanation as to why she has been referred to psychotherapy and points her finger instead at the doctor who sent her there. The psychotherapist concludes that Karen is unmotivated toward psychotherapy.

Discussion

Karen’s destructiveness outweighs her constructiveness. She ruins her health, takes no constructive initiatives to deal with her problems, lacks feelings of existential responsibility for her situation, and cannot be bothered to connect with her own health. She withdraws further and further from social contact, seems to lack purpose in life, and has no interest in change. The conclusion is that Karen is latently motivated, In other words, the client does have motivation but it is not explicit in her actions.

At the same time, Karen serves as an example that latent motivation is not synonymous with social maladjustment. Socially well-adjusted people can also be latently motivated.