Responsive Therapy and Motivational Interviewing: Postmodernist Paradigms

Two counseling approaches of relatively recent origin, responsive therapy and motivational interviewing, are described and compared. Both operate through a series of stages and from a collaborative and postmodernist ethic. They involve prescriptive use of standard micro‐skills at the beginning stage and progress to focused and active, intentional intervention strategies. Responsive Therapy claims to allow integration of active interventions from a variety of theory bases, whereas Motivational Interviewing has a strongly cognitive‐behavioral flavor. Both serve as viable alternatives to a traditional diagnose and prescribe mindset while maintaining efficient and effective dynamics appropriate to contemporary brief therapy and managed care contexts.