Motivating institutionalized adolescents for psychotherapy

In the study of psychotherapy, one surely must come to appreciate the importance of client motivation. Intuitively, its value in obtaining a successful outcome would seem unquestioned. Nonetheless, motivation for treatment has not received the attention in the literature that its importance might warrant. This paper deals exclusively with the adolescent and in particular, the institutionalized adolescent. Often members of this population become known as "untreatable cases" and attempts at treatment result in frustration from emotional and economic drain. This paper reviews the literature regarding client motivation, client preferences, and token economies, and offers recommendations for designing a program to increase motivation for psychotherapy in institutionalized adolescents.