Motivational interviewing

The authors examine the importance of engaging substance-abusing clients in treatment and the change process through the use of motivational interviewing. The authors discuss: the theoretical underpinnings of motivational interviewing; the four guiding principles of motivational interviewing (express empathy, develop discrepancy, roll with resistance, support self-efficacy); the spirit of motivational interviewing; motivational interviewing counseling strategies (open questions, affirmations, reflections, summaries); eliciting change talk; other motivational interviewing tools (personalized feedback, values clarification exercise, scaling rulers); indications and contraindications for motivational interviewing; how to learn motivational interviewing; and tailoring motivational interviewing to the population (involuntary clients, groups). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)