William R. Miller
Co-created motivational interviewing for behavior change.
Co-founder of motivational interviewing, a collaborative style that resolves ambivalence and strengthens a person’s own motivation to change.
terms
techniques
Ambivalence is wanting and not wanting something at the same time.
Who they were
William R. Miller is an American clinical psychologist, emeritus distinguished professor at the University of New Mexico. He developed motivational interviewing in the early 1980s and later co-authored its foundational text with Stephen Rollnick. With hundreds of publications, he became a leading figure in the psychology of change and the treatment of addiction.
Terms they cared about
Ideas worth knowing
Their techniques
How the work was done
Their big idea
Motivational Interviewing Theory
People change when they voice their own reasons; the counselor evokes rather than persuades.
The approach they founded
Motivational Interviewing
A collaborative way to resolve mixed feelings and grow your own reasons for change.
Questions in their spirit
What they’d ask you
Sit with one. Answer online, or in the app.
Carry the idea forward
Miller — What they’d ask you
Psipas asks you one small, honest question at a time — and builds the picture from your answers.