Motivation is key to substance use behavior change. Counselors can support clients' movement toward positive changes in their substance use by identifying and enhancing motivation that already exists. Motivational approaches are based on the principles of person-centered counseling. Counselors' use of empathy, not authority and power, is key to enhancing clients' motivation to change. Clients are experts in their own recovery from SUDs. Counselors should engage them in collaborative partnerships. Ambivalence about change is normal. Resistance to change is an expression of ambivalence about change, not a client trait or characteristic. Confrontational approaches increase client resistance and discord in the counseling relationship. Motivational approaches explore ambivalence in a nonjudgmental and compassionate way.

Addictions: A Comprehensive Guidebook, Second Edition, features a roster of senior scientists covering the latest findings in the study of alcohol and other drug use, abuse, and dependence.

A revision of the landmark study by D.J. Lettieri "Alcoholism Treatment Assessment Research Instruments". Assists in locating, examining, and selecting instruments appropriate for use in all stages of the assessment process. Includes state-of-the-art reviews of and recommendations for assessment procedures. Written with the clinician and the less experienced researcher in mind. Includes screening, diagnosis, assessment of drinking behavior, treatment planning, treatment and process assessment, and outcome evaluation. Also Fact Sheets and Sample Instruments.