Motivational and Emotional Psychology

This assignment discusses the case study of a hypothetical client and the different ways that nurses might undertake to help the patient in developing motivation and emotional stability and ensure better quality lives.

Running head: MOTIVATIONAL AND EMOTIONAL PSYCHOLOGY
MOTIVATIONAL AND EMOTIONAL PSYCHOLOGY
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Motivation and determination play important roles in health behavior changes for
protecting patients from harmful chronic and acute disorders. Often, it is seen that healthcare
professionals advise patients with interventions which they are advised to follow. In some of the
cases, the patients do not achieve quality outcomes of their health. On close analysis of the
situations, it can be found that the patient might not remain motivated for the health behavior
changes (Michie et al., 2014). Therefore, their apprehensive nature and lack of motivation make
them miss interventions, not follow the routine procedures of care, not visiting doctors on time
and many others. These aspects worsen the health condition. Hence, the professionals need to
motivate the patients at first and ensure their emotional stability (Hollands et al., 2016). This will
make them aligned to the set of medical interventions and make them more compliant. This
assignment would mainly discuss the case study of a hypothetical client. It will also show the
different ways that nurses might undertake to help the patient in developing motivation and
emotional stability and ensure better quality lives.
A patient named John Green of 35 years of age had visited the clinic with symptoms of
substance abuse disorder. His clothes were not ironed and his hair was in a messy situation. A
strong smell of alcohol filled the room as soon as he entered the room. He was initially very
reserved but after an informal communication, he opened up revealing his various issues. He
stated that it was after his wife left, that he picked up the habit of drinking to overcome
depression. He stated that it initially helped him to relieve him from depression and loneliness
and gave him feelings of pleasure. However, in course of time, he experienced that although he
had overcome his loneliness and he no more thinks about his wife, he felt still addicted to
alcohol. This behavior is causing huge problems in his occupation and therefore, his friends had
requested him to take the help of healthcare practitioners. However, he stated that he does not

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believe that his drinking of alcohol is any reason for issues in his professional life. He believes
that it is a bad time, which is only creating the issues. He is also adamant that these issues will go
away with time. He was not confident about the healthcare professional as he stated that no one
understands his problems and he feels emotionally drained out. Therefore, the healthcare
professional needed to analyze each aspect of the case in order to understand the various
determinists of health that are affecting him. Accordingly, interventions would be devised for the
patient.
One of the most important aspects that had been identified in the case of the patient is the
lack of his motivation. He seems to be unaware of the ill effects of alcohol dependence and
therefore he does not feel the need for change of any form of his lifestyles. Researchers have
stated that motivating people who are disinclined towards the engagement in healthy behaviors is
indeed a significant challenge to the different public health practitioners (Ramseier & Suvar,
2015). Over the years, most of the psychosocial theories that had been applied for the different
health behavior changes tend to assume a degree of motivation for changing and being focused
on various attempts. These attempts mainly help in promoting the actions by converting
motivation into the action. Different types of approaches are proposed by the healthcare
researchers which include the significance of goals-settings, self-monitoring, action planning and
implementation (Anderson et al., 2014). These approaches help in focusing on the harnessing of
the motivation as well as promotion of the actions in those individuals who already are likely to
be motivated for changing.
In the present situation, it is very important for the healthcare professionals to first
identify the health behavior issue and analyse the issues in references to that of an appropriate
health behavior theory. This would help in identifying the state of change that the patient is

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present and the different stages he would need to go through to overcome the unhealthy
behavior. One of the theories that the nursing professional can apply in this stage is the trans-
theoretical model (Chiuazzi et al., 2015). This theory mainly focuses on the decision making of
the individual and it can be described as the model of intentional change. This model is seen to
operate on the assumption that individuals cannot change behaviors quickly as well as decisively.
The nursing professionals need to help the patients move through six important stages of change.
When these stages are accomplished successfully, the nursing professionals can ensure that the
patients are emotionally motivated and would not relapse back into the previous stages.
The first stage is called the pre-contemplation stage. In this step, the patient does not
intend to take the actions in the fore-seeable future. People in this stage are seen to underestimate
the pros and cons of the changing behaviors. The patient named John is found to be in the pre-
contemplation stage. He is not at all motivated for change and he does not believe that there is
any need of change as well (Martin & Pear, 2015). The next stage is called the contemplation
stage where the individuals develop intentions to take action and thereby plan to achieve the
goals in the near future. In this stage, the professionals will undertake interventions that would
help the patient to understand the various ill effects that the habit of drinking is causing him.
Accordingly, the nurse would motivate the individual in ways by which he can recognize the ill
effects and want to develop the condition of his life by altering risky health behaviors (Yardley et
al., 2015). The nurse can undertake motivational interviewing in this stage to ensure that the
patient is motivated. In this stage, he can also counsel the patient about the actions that are
making him emotionally drained out and the interventions that he can take up to overcome the
barrier. The third step is called the preparation stage where the individuals are seen to have
already developed the intention for taking action and hence they have adopted some steps

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already. The nurse needs to be in constant touch with the patient and acknowledge his actions.
When individuals are acknowledged about their achievements, the patients feel encouraged and
they tend to stick with the interventions. The nurse who would be treating John would follow the
same approach.
The next step in the model is the action stage where the individuals have changed their
behavior for a short period. This, in turn, is followed by the maintenance stage where the
behaviors in the patients have changed and continues to be maintained for the long-term
(Enander et al., 2016). These two stages are very important stages where there remains a high
chance that the patient might fall back into the old health behaviors if determination is lost or do
not remain enough motivated. Therefore, throughout these stages, the nurse needs to be a
constant companion with John and encourage him to visit the follow up sessions successfully
(Sawesi et al., 2016). John should be motivated to stick to his new planning and goals to achieve
a new life that would be free from alcohol dependence.
One of the best approaches to develop motivation of change among the patient and to
ensure emotional stability in the patient is motivational interviewing. Motivational interviewing
can be explained as a collaborative counseling strategy. This strategy is designed for elicitation
and strengthening the motivation for the behavioral changes (Culzak et al., 2015). The
professionals can take up a motivational interviewing style of the communication into the care of
the patient named John. This form of treatment can be applied to substance abuse disorder
patients to discuss behaviors by which they can overcome their dependence on alcohol and
undertake self-management strategies (Morton et al., 2015). The professionals need to assist the
patients in their motivation as well as confidence for making different types of changes that
would improve their control over their urge to drink alcohol. The nursing professionals need to

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ensure that she undertakes this counseling strategy with John to ensure development of the
motivation in the patient and help in change his drinking habits.
Researchers are of the opinion that motivational interviewing is indeed one of the
counseling strategies that would encourage the healthcare professionals to engage in patient-
centered communication. The nurse who would be attending the patient named John should ask
John different open-ended questions as well as probes. She would need to affirm John when she
shares the information and thereby reflect on what the patient is saying (Ekberg et al., 2016). She
should be then summarizing the nature of the discussion to the patient. Studies are also of the
opinion that motivational interviewing also recommends assessment of the confidence of the
patient and determine the ability and commitment of the patient to achieve the agreed goals
(Fumagill et al., 2015).
In order to ensure that the patient is well motivated and the outcomes of the motivational
interviewing become successful, the nurse needs to maintain four important components. The
nurse need to ensure that collaboration is successfully done by collaborating with the patient.
The next important aspect that nurses need to follow is evocation. This mainly involves the
elicitation of the desires of the patient and handles his emotions successfully. Reasons for the
change should be discussed clearly. The next is the aspect of autonomy where the nurses need to
respect and honor the autonomy of the patient. John should be allowed to be in control of his
own decisions (Preswitch et al., 2015). Another important aspect is called compassion where the
individuals need to actively promote the welfare of the patient. When the nurses maintain such
principles of motivational interviewing, the patients will feel comfortable, emotionally stable and
will be able to discuss different concerns successfully.

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Another approach that the nurse can also undertake is the cognitive behavioral therapy.
This is an approach which was initially developed to treat depression but is used nowadays in
treatment of addiction, anxiety and many others. As John is addicted to alcohol, this therapy can
be used for hiss treatment. The cognitive behavioral therapy helps on addressing the harmful
thought patterns of the patients and helps the patients to recognize their ability to practices
different alternative ways of thinking. This therapy also helps in regulation of the distressing
emotions as well as different harmful behaviors (Giles et al., 2014). Studies have provided
different evidences that support the application of CBT in the treatment of addiction issues.
Firstly, this therapy helps in exploring the patterns of behaviors of the client and leads to self-
destructive actions and beliefs, which are seen to control the thoughts. Secondly, this therapy
would be also allowing the patient and the clients to work together in a therapeutic relationship
with the patient, thereby identify the harmful thought patterns, and actively seek alternate
thinking. Thirdly, this therapy is extremely useful, practical and provides helpful strategies that
can be incorporated into the everyday life of the patient (Sinnott et al., 2015). Fourth, this
therapy is also helpful as it helps clients for formulating different coping strategies for handling
potential stressors and difficulties following addiction treatment. Therefore, the nursing
professional who would be attending john would be providing this therapy helping him to
overcome substance abuse disorder.
From the above discussion, it becomes clear that motivation and emotional stability are
two important aspects that every patient needs to develop to ensure successful health behavior
change. Motivation interviewing can be considered as one of the most important counseling
strategy by which the nurses can help the individuals to identify their risky lifestyle and help
them to know how the lifestyles can create health risks. This process of interviewing makes the

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patients develop motivation to modify the health behaviors for betterment. Another important
therapy that also needs to be introduced is the cognitive behavioral therapy. It helps in
identifying the risky behaviors, helping in modifying the thought procedures of the patients and
thereby regulates distressing behaviors and the harmful behaviors. This process would help in
modifying the behaviors of the patient towards better habits. One of the health behavior therapy
that nurses can also use is the trans-theoretical model of care. They can use this model of care as
guidance to them analyzing the systematic changes in the behaviors of the patient and helping to
assess the outcomes of the intervention in the stages.

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