Blog 80. Motivational Work Equates Psychotherapy

Motivational Work equates to psychotherapy. Because of insufficient motivation, unmotivated and destructive clients are not considered suitable for advanced psychotherapeutic methods. On the other hand, Motivational Work states that you can treat unmotivated clients in the same complex way as motivated clients. As a result, social order is undermined. Deep down, all clients are alike.

Low social rank

If the destructive unmotivated client has a very complicated inner life in the same way as motivated clients, it unbalances the hierarchy of society. In contrast, it is often considered that your psychological functioning is much more simplified and primitive than the lower social position you have. You also lack character and morality.

Similarly, the social hierarchy also affects the practitioner, dealing with the unmotivated and destructive client. His work is considered less sophisticated and less advanced. On the other hand, the more you help people with higher social status who are more well-functioning, you are given a higher professional status.

In other words, the psychotherapeutic paradigm supports the reigning social order. Most likely, it can explain some of the perseverance of this paradigm.

The Child Psychiatric Clinic

One example is the child psychiatric clinic. The patients come voluntarily. To be helped, they must show up at meetings, and they must be able to reflect on what the practitioner says.

In short, they cannot have too destructive behavior. If the family does not appear at planned meetings, the clinic will dismiss the family. The family members will be conceived as not suitable for the method.

The Social Agency

On the other hand, you can compare it with a social agency. The families usually do not seek help by themselves — instead, other persons report worries for children to the social worker.

In turn, the agency is obliged to start an investigation. The social worker is responsible for the child’s welfare and can be questioned for his assessments and decisions. He must determine if the agency’s relationship with the family will be voluntary or if it will be necessary with coercive measures.

Moreover, the social worker is obliged to establish a relationship with the family. The demands on him are to try and have contact with the parents and children even if they withdraw. He often meets a family which resists what he says or may comply with him superficially.

It is not uncommon for a child in the family to be in a dangerous situation because of different sorts of abuse and negligence. From the outside, it seems that the social worker has a much more complicated and challenging work situation.

The Personnel Paradox

To sum up, working at a child psychiatric clinic has an increased status compared to working at a social agency. The salary is higher; you receive more training and supervision, often using psychotherapeutic methods. This phenomenon can be called the personnel paradox.

Conversely, the more unmotivated the clients are, the less help and support the personnel is given in their work. I do not mean to disdain the efforts made by different groups of personnel working with motivated clients, but they often have more resources at their disposal.

Motivational Work on the Same Level as Psychotherapy

In conclusion, Motivational Work wants to solve this paradox by offering an extensive and in-depth theory and several advanced methods concerning the unmotivated client. Training in Motivational Work demands both theoretical studies and extended supervision.

Motivational Work equates to psychotherapy. Thus, Motivational Work confirms that helping destructive clients is more complicated than treating motivated clients. For this reason, the practitioner is given sophisticated tools on the same level as psychotherapy to use in his arduous work.