What is a core feature of Motivational Interviewing?

• A. Direct confrontation to force change
• B. A collaborative, person-centered approach to eliciting change
• C. Time-limited group therapy
• D. Solely didactic teaching

Answer: (B)

Motivational Interviewing is built on a collaborative, person-centered stance that aims to elicit the person’s own reasons for change rather than imposing reasons or directing them. The counselor partners with the client, using open-ended questions, reflective listening, and affirmations to explore ambivalence and draw out change talk. This approach respects the client’s autonomy and engages them in a process of self-motivated change, rather than forcing change or delivering information in a didactic way.

Direct confrontation to force change clashes with MI’s spirit, which treats resistance as information to be explored rather than argued against. Time-limited group therapy and solely didactic teaching describe formats or instructional approaches that aren’t what MI is defined by; MI centers on the collaborative, eliciting, autonomy-supporting interaction that brings out the client’s own motivation.