Motivational interviewing for initiating change in problem drinking and drug use

(from the chapter) Clients are often ambivalent about the need to change their problem drinking and drug use behavior. Motivational interviewing is a method that addresses where clients are in the cycle of change and assists them in moving toward change. It is especially designed to address ambivalence in the early stages of change. Motivational interviewing is a directive, client-centered counseling style for eliciting behavior change by helping clients to explore and resolve ambivalence about change. Rooted in humanistic and existential psychology, the assumptions inherent in the motivational interviewing style are that the client brings to the therapy session a basic capacity for actualization of a positive self and is responsible for changing. The therapist's role is to create those conditions shown to enhance the likelihood that a client will engage in behavior change efforts. The elements underlying motivational interviewing contain 4 basic principles: (1) express empathy, (2) develop discrepancy, (3) roll with resistance, and (4) support self-efficacy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) (chapter)