Motivational Interviewing is the Opposite of Mansplaining

I was recently explaining Motivational Interviewing to a new friend.

He asked, “What is the opposite of Motivational Interviewing?”

I responded, “Telling people what to do, giving unsolicited advice.”

He reflected, “Oh, so the opposite of mansplaining.”

YES!

Motivational Interviewing is the opposite of mansplaining!

For those of you out there that have ever been the recipient of mansplaining, how does it make you feel?

Irritated at the person? Disengaged? Wanting to push back?

Does it make you want to yell back, “Shut up, I already know!”

Or, as it relates to receiving unsolicited advice, “If it were that easy, don’t you think I would have done it already?!”

Motivational Interviewing invites us into humility and listening first.

We are not assuming we know what’s best for another person. Instead, we get curious about what they want, why it’s important to them, and how they want to change (if they even want to!).

It’s especially important to note that as helping professionals, we have some power and privilege.

Especially when we have additional privileges (gender, race, sexual orientation, education, socioeconomics, etc.) and work with those with less privilege, giving information, telling people what to do, or giving advice can all be especially damaging.

Motivational Interviewing is empowering, and is absolutely the opposite of mansplaining!

Motivational Interviewing Tip of the Week: When you find yourself wanting to tell someone what to do or give unsolicited advice, remember how it feels to receive it when you don’t invite it. For those of you that have been the recipients of mansplaining, remember what that feels like! With Motivational Interviewing, we avoid sounding patronizing or condescending instead by asking and eliciting from our clients rather than telling. And, when we have information or advice to share, we can use the Ask-Ask-Offer-Ask to elicit their thoughts and expertise, support autonomy via asking permission to share, and be curious about how our information or advice sits with them!