Motivational Interviewing Improves Mood After Stroke

 

Motivational interviewing (MI) has been shown to improve mood and possibly reduce mortality 3 months after a stroke and continues to be beneficial at 1 year, a new study suggests.

Lead study author Caroline Watkins, PhD, professor of stroke and older people's care, University of Central Lancashire, Preston, United Kingdom pointed out that MI works not just because it's based on talk therapy. Studies of cognitive behavior therapy, which also incorporates "talk" to change behaviors, suggest that this therapy doesn't seem to work to improve mood in stroke patients. "So there is something about this particular talk-based therapy [MI] that is helping people to adjust and not to feel so depressed about the future." That "something" may be that MI doesn't just change behaviors but also expectations and encourages patients to come up with their own solutions.

Full Medscape article…

 

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