In motivational interviewing, counselors help people explore their feelings and find their own motivations. They do this using four basic techniques.

Therapists gather information by asking open-ended questions, show support and respect using affirmations, express empathy through reflections, and use summaries to group information.
 

Open-Ended Questions

Open-ended questions are questions you can't answer with a simple "yes" or "no." These types of questions encourage you to think more deeply about an issue.

Such questions often start with words like "how" or "what," and they give your therapist the opportunity to learn more about you. Examples of open-ended questions include:

• "How would you like things to be different?"

• "What have you tried before to make a change?"

• "What can you tell me about your relationship with your parents?"
   

Affirmations

Affirmations are statements that recognize a person's strengths and acknowledge their positive behaviors. Done right, affirmations can help build a person's confidence in their ability to change.

Examples of affirming responses include:

• "You're clearly a very resourceful person."

• "You handled yourself really well in that situation."

• "I'm so glad you came into the clinic today. I know it isn't always easy to seek help."

• "I appreciate that it took a lot of courage for you to discuss this with me today."
   

Reflective Listening

Reflection or reflective listening is perhaps the most crucial skill therapists use. Reflection lets a client know that their therapist is listening and trying to understand their point of view. It also gives the client the opportunity to correct any misunderstandings and to elaborate on their feelings.

Reflection is a foundational skill of motivational interviewing and how therapists express empathy.
 

Summaries

Summaries are a special type of reflection. They show that the therapist has been listening and understand what the client has been saying.

Therapists can use summaries throughout a conversation. Some examples of summarizing techniques include:

• Collecting: Collecting reinforces what the client has said. For example, a therapist might say, "Let me see if I understand what you have said thus far."

• Linking: Linking entails making associations between two parts of the discussion. For example, a therapist might say, “A minute ago you said you wanted to talk to... Maybe now we can talk about how you might try...” 

• Transitioning: Transitioning wraps up the end of a session or moving on to another topic. For instance, a therapist might say, “A minute ago you said... But the last time we met, it seemed like... What do you think about that?"