Motivational Interviewing

Enhancing a client’s motivation to change is an important component of interventions for addictive behaviors and psychiatric conditions. Motivational enhancement approaches for substance use and psychiatric disorders have become increasingly popular during the past three decades, and foremost among them is Motivational Interviewing (MI). This chapter describes what MI is and is not, its four main processes and associated practices, and how MI can be used to respond to sustain talk and discord. It also describes the empirical support for MI, its use across cultures, how to learn MI, as well as future research directions.