Motivational Interviewing in the Treatment of Anxiety

Henny A. Westra

May 2012 · Guilford Press

About this ebook

This practical book provides effective strategies for helping therapy clients with anxiety resolve ambivalence and increase their intrinsic motivation for change. The author shows how to infuse the spirit and methods of motivational interviewing (MI) into cognitive-behavioral therapy or any other anxiety-focused treatment. She describes specific ways to use MI as a pretreatment intervention or integrate it throughout the course of therapy whenever motivational impasses occur. Vivid clinical material--including a chapter-length case example of a client presenting with anxiety and depression--enhances the utility of this accessible guide.

This book is in the Applications of Motivational Interviewing series, edited by Stephen Rollnick, William R. Miller, and Theresa B. Moyers.

About the author

Henny A. Westra, PhD, is Associate Professor of Psychology at York University in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. She has extensive clinical and research experience and has worked as a front-line clinician, clinical director, professor, and trainer. She is a member of the Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers (MINT). Dr. Westra's research on motivation and interpersonal process in psychotherapy has been funded by the National Institute of Mental Health and the Canadian Institute of Health Research. She has presented and published widely on the treatment of anxiety and depression.