I would say my father is a good example of tough love, especially regarding things that I tried hard to get his approval in when I was younger. I really remember the times where I would work all day to clean room and organize but if the tops of my dressers were still unorganized at the end of the day I remember him always saying "wow good job but you still need to do something about this" and he never just said good job. This has left me feeling like I'll never be good enough because trying my best wasn't good enough for him. And I still always feel like I have to prove to him that my decisions were valid because of this or that. So in this case I would believe tough love wasn't helpful for someone that already had motivational issues.