Abstract

JAEGER, Antônio; OLIVEIRA, Margareth da Silva  and  FREIRE, Suzana Dias. Group motivational interviewing for the treatment of alcohol addiction. Temas psicol. [online]. 2008, vol.16, n.1, pp.097-106. ISSN 1413-389X.

Motivational Interviewing is a brief intervention aimed to resolve the ambivalence elicited by the process of changing addictive behaviors. The present article reports an experience of intervention in groups for alcohol-dependent patients in which the Motivational Interviewing approach was employed. It included 36 alcohol-dependent males aged 35 to 62 years, who were detoxification inpatients at the beginning of the study. The subjects took part in the intervention and their alcohol consumption was assessed before and 90 days after it, using the FORM-90 inventory. The alcohol consumption at the first evaluation was high: approximately 200 alcohol standard units per week. At the second evaluation the alcohol consumption decreased significantly, and more than 60% of the subjects did not drink alcohol whatsoever. The Motivational Interviewing in a group format was revealed as an important and economically advantageous tool for the treatment of alcohol addiction.

Keywords : Motivation; Alcoholism; Group Psychotherapy; Brief Psychotherapy.