A nurse is using motivational therapy with a female client suffering from alcoholism. The client, who is unwilling to consider changing her drinking behavior, emphatically states, "I am not an alcoholic; you can't make me stop drinking."

Question

Which response by the nurse would be most appropriate?

A) "You have to stop drinking and driving. You could kill someone."
B) "You're right. You are not an alcoholic."
C) "You should consider what you are doing to your marital relationship."
D) "You're the only one who can make yourself stop drinking."

Answer 1

Ans: D
The acronym FRAMES summarizes elements of brief interventions with clients using motivational interviewing. The nurse should emphasize both the client's freedom to choose to change as well as the client's responsibility to change. Telling the client to stop drinking and driving is confrontational and not therapeutic in this situation; telling the client to think about what she is doing to her marriage is inappropriate because the client has yet to acknowledge that she has a problem. Telling the client that she is not an alcoholic only reinforces the client's denial.