The emotional attitude of honesty (Motivational Work, Part 2, Motivational Relationship, pages 52 – 70) is really a crystallization of the quality of the other five emotional attitudes, which must be honest and genuine, and therefore untransmuted; in other words, the motivational worker must not be in disguise in the meeting with the client, but truly and unambiguously himself. The greater the transmuted component of the untransmuted contact rebus, the less life energy can be transferred.
The demand for genuine feeling applies to all the emotional reactions the motivational worker has towards the client.
The latently motivated need a different kind of help than the manifestly motivated. The difference between them is that the manifestly motivated have such strong motivation within themselves that they have their own energy to constructively and actively participate in their treatment. The latently motivated do not yet possess this strength and need their positive cores boosted by the motivational worker because they primarily find themselves in a demotivational process.
An important way of transmitting life energy is through the emotions that the motivational worker has towards the client. By definition, the feelings which the latently motivated person receives must be genuine, otherwise, he will not receive maximum life force. The motivational worker strives to transfer as much life force as possible via his ascribed untransmuted contact rebus.
Case Study 1
25-year-old Frej is in contact with a social worker who works with drug abusers, something he has to do in order to receive financial aid from social services. He has been meeting his social worker every week for a year now. In his discussions with her, he says he finds it very difficult to quit drugs because withdrawal is tough; he feels like he is their victim – once you’ve started you can’t stop yourself.
The social worker tires at hearing this repeated victim contact rebus. At first, she is doubtful about expressing her feelings but senses that this perception comes from a positive commitment to Frej, so she confesses to feeling tired. Frej is quiet for a while, but then resumes his talk about being a victim in relation to drugs.
Honesty is required for all emotions on the condition that a basic positive feeling exists for the client. In this case, the motivational worker trusts in this and receives a response from the client in the form of silence.
Case Study 2
An important feature of honesty in relation to congruent actions is the provision of factual, concrete information. It is also a way of showing respect. One may question the motivational worker’s commitment and respect if he does not talk about things the client has a right to know; his emotions and deeds are not congruent. The motivational worker’s discomfort about disclosing the information is put before the client’s right to receive information. In this case, the client continually has confirmed that he cannot trust anyone and that he will always be disappointed.
21-year-old Engelbrekt’s mother calls Marina, a social worker, about her son. Apparently, he had a psychotic episode a year ago and was sectioned. Engelbrekt has begun to isolate himself again and has paranoid thoughts. His mother asks the social worker to visit her son at home, but Marina wonders why she hasn’t got in touch with the psychiatric clinic. Engelbrekt’s mother doesn’t want to because her previous experience of compulsory care was bad.
Marina promises not to tell Engelbrekt about her conversation with his mother, but therein lies a dilemma: she has promised her that she will visit him but cannot tell him why she is doing so. Eventually, she decides to visit Engelbrekt, who lives alone. He opens the door but won’t let the social worker in, telling her she can come back next week. Afterward, Marina feels bad about not having told Engelbrekt the reason for her visit.
Marina cannot solve the family contact rebus and adopts paranoid behavior, which probably makes Engelbrekt suspicious that his mother is the instigator of her visit. Marina has not detransmuted the contact rebus of the mother, who will rely more on someone who does not agree with her hush-hush tactics. Marina’s actions cause her to enter a demotivational process and feel deceitful. Had she adopted the emotional attitude of honesty, she may have prevented this from happening.