Motivation Therapy in Eating Disorders

Overview

The concept of motivation therapy originates from alcohol dependence treatment. Motivation isconsidered to be a personality trait or of characteristic state. Patients with eating disordersoffend treatment with a certain amount of motivation. Those who fail or refuse or do not complywith treatment are often said not to have been „sufficiently motivated“. Lack of motivation hasbeen frequently explained as a strong defense mechanism inherent to eating disorders and toalcohol and drug addicts. Refusal to accept reality is a substantial obstacle to recovery. Over thepast 30 years there has been a shift in thinking about the motivation, its natural development andpossibilities of therapeutic changes of motivation. The article describes the concept of motivatio-nal therapy development, comparing this approach to other therapeutic approaches and descri-bes the clinical use of the method.Key words: motivation therapy,

Key words:
motivation therapy, eating disorders, stages of motivation for treatment.