Transformative Communication: A Depth Psychological Perspective of Motivational Interviewing

Abstract

A depth psychological perspective of motivational interviewing expands the practice of client-centered and directive conversations to embrace a theory of unconscious communication. This study employs hermeneutic methods to compare motivational interviewing tenets with Jungian psychoanalytic theories and contemporary research on affective neuroscience. The goal is to create a vision of communication education that is relevant to human services professionals and psychotherapist alike. Since the appearance of motivational interviewing in the 1980s, professionals in noncounseling careers began to have interest in and access to counseling-style communications training, and yet this learning model barely penetrated psychoanalytic education. Just as Carl Jung used the structure of his ego to anchor his journey into the unconscious, the structure of behavioral science guides motivational interviewing practitioners in learning conscious and unconscious communication. This study challenges both motivational interviewing and depth psychotherapy to consider the ethereal and practical benefits they might offer each other respectively. Understanding how these two modalities intersect and diverge promises great potential to further the practice of each.