What counseling approach aims to enhance an individual's motivation to change their substance use behavior?

• A. Motivational enhancement therapy
• B. Natural recovery
• C. Matrix model
• D. Maintenance dose

Answer: (A)

Motivational enhancement therapy centers on boosting a person’s motivation to change their substance use. It uses a collaborative, nonjudgmental style drawn from motivational interviewing to help individuals explore ambivalence, articulate their own reasons for change, and strengthen their commitment to change. By eliciting change talk and resolving mixed feelings, it increases readiness to change and supports engagement in treatment, often in brief sessions or as part of a broader plan. Other approaches described—natural recovery as self-directed change without formal treatment, the Matrix Model as a structured behavioral program for certain substances, and maintenance dose as ongoing pharmacotherapy—address different aspects of care, whereas motivational enhancement therapy is specifically aimed at enhancing motivation to initiate and sustain change.