Appraising the level of motivation is necessary before applying the methodology derived from the contact rebus theory. A motivational worker must be convinced that his client is latently motivated and has a destructive, concealed contact rebus. Thus, he has a different, cloaked message behind what he appears to communicate to others.
The concealed way of communicating distinguishes him from the manifestly motivated client, who does not hide in the same way despite using transmuted contact rebuses. The latently motivated person’s destructiveness gives him an even higher degree of transmutation, and recognizing his latent motivation is the most critical aspect of the motivational worker’s work, as it decides his whole approach to his client (Motivational Work, Part 1: Values and Theory, page 626 -669).
Appraising a client’s degree of motivation is done based on the following characteristics:
* The destructive degree of transmutation of the client’s emotional experiences
* The destructive degree of transmutation of the client’s cognitions
* The destructive degree of transmutation of the client’s actions
* The destructive degree of transmutation of the client’s temporal contact rebus
* The degree of congruence between emotions, cognitions, actions, and life situation.
Case Study
Sigfrid, 40, is homeless, and a frequent visitor to a shelter that is open all day and offers beds for the night. Sigfrid attends daytime activities and sometimes stays the night. His health is failing since he has diabetes and has twice been operated on for cancer.
Destructive Behavior
On several occasions, Sigfrid has been banned from the shelter’s activities after having threatened and even attacked other clients and members of staff. He has formerly done time for assault and attempted murder. He is a drug user, but not as much as he used to be, owing to his diabetes.
Banned from the doctor’s surgery
The shelter offers people experiencing homelessness a chance to see a doctor once a week. Sigfrid attacks another homeless person one such time and is banned from the doctor’s surgery for a month.
Remorseful
Despite this, he turns up a week later, wishing to talk about his being banned. The female deputy manager of the day center agrees to see him, and he explains to her that he hit the other homeless person because he had said that people like him shouldn’t get to see a doctor.
As Sigfrid talks, he struggles with his tears and rushes out of the room, returning red-eyed a short while later. He says that he is a fool and that he’s done wrong and deserved to be hit. In the end, he hugs the deputy manager.
Appraising the motivation
She reverses the decision to ban him there and then, and he gets to see the doctor immediately. She is given the impression of someone who is being genuinely honest and who has made a confession. Afterward, she feels as if she has witnessed something big and has connected intimately with a fellow human being.
Negative rebound
One month later, Sigfrid once again abuses a homeless person.
Discussion
The Compliance Contact Rebus
The patient has a compliance contact rebus as a positive rebound and, as a negative rebound, physical violence. As mentioned above, one difficulty with the compliance contact rebus is that it makes the motivational worker experience in the here-and-now that his client is emotionally open and confiding and genuinely means what he says.
Appraising the Level of Motivation
However, there is an inherent incongruence: how can Sigfrid be so well-integrated and open yet so destructively demonstrative? There are also signs in the transmutation of the compliance contact rebus, which shows that his emotions are transmuted.
His reaction is simplistic: Sigfrid is devastated and considers himself the sole source of blame, yet he is not troubled by the fact that he cannot control himself and can become so violent and therefore feels he needs no help preventing it from reoccurring.
However, he should be worried about it after all his previous assaults; instead, he acts to erase the event and his responsibility for it. Another sign is the rapid switch between assault and compliance (i.e.,. a high degree of transmutation of the temporal contact rebus). It is unreasonable for such a destructively demonstrative person to have worked through his situation and changed his ways so quickly.
An Assailant’s Positive Rebound
On the other hand, this fits into the picture of the assailant’s positive rebound, in which they take all the blame and want to put everything right. Only his destructive physical violence is enough to establish that he is latently motivated. Unfortunately, the staff is unable to solve the contact rebus.
Inability to Appraise the Level of Motivation
One reason for the inability to appraise Sigfrid’s communication can be because it contains a combination of flattery and intimidation, a problematic transmutation. In one way, he is saying to the deputy manager that he confesses thanks to her skillful actions.
At the same time, she knows how uncontrollably destructive Sigfrid can be and therefore does not want to see the transmutation since the situation could become threatening.
Confirmation of the Level of Motivation
After abusing another homeless person again, Sigfrid confirms he is latently motivated.
To Summarize
To summarize, appraising Sigfrid’s motivation, we can say that the truth lies more in his actions than in his words.