Motivational Interviewing Questions: 80 Examples by Task

Most lists of motivational interviewing questions stop at the question. In a session, the question is the easy part: what moves a conversation toward change is what you do with the answer. Below you'll find 80 open questions, grouped by the four tasks Miller and Rollnick describe (engaging, focusing, evoking and planning) plus a short set for sharing information, the reflection that usually comes next, and five short exchanges with invented clients. You'll also find the questions that tend to backfire, with rewrites, a question card you can copy and print, and a simple way to check your own balance of questions and reflections.

Every client in this article is invented. Any resemblance to a real person is a coincidence.

What makes a question a motivational interviewing question

Miller and Rollnick define motivational interviewing as "a collaborative, goal-oriented style of communication with particular attention to the language of change," a definition the Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers (MINT) uses on its overview of MI. Two parts of that definition shape every question you ask.

It is goal-oriented, so an MI question has a direction. MINT's handout on evoking puts it in one line: "Ask open question, the answer to which is change talk" (Ten Strategies for Evoking Change Talk). "What would be better if you drank less?" points somewhere. "How was your week?" doesn't. That's fine while you're engaging, but it isn't evoking.

It pays attention to language. You listen for the client's words in favor of change (change talk) and in favor of staying the same (sustain talk). A question invites them. A reflection strengthens them. That's why the questions in this article come with what to say next.

Open-ended questions vs closed questions in MI

Open questions invite a story; closed questions collect a fact. SAMHSA's guide to motivational counseling notes that closed questions "evoke yes/no or short answers and sometimes make clients feel as if they have to come up with the right answer" (TIP 35). It also counts "Tell me about..." as an open question, even though it isn't phrased as one.

Closed questions aren't banned. You need them for risk, dates, medications and anything else with a factual answer. The trouble is a session built from them, where the client answers and you think up the next one.

If you trained on older material

MI's vocabulary has changed across editions, and many question lists online still use the early terms:

The four MI tasks and the question each one answers

The fourth edition names its practice chapters with a question for each task (table of contents):

The tasks build on each other, but they aren't a one-way sequence. You keep engaging the whole time, and when planning stalls you usually go back to evoking. Pick questions by the task you're in, not by the minute of the session.

Engaging questions: getting to know the person

In engaging, you aren't hunting for change talk yet. You're learning how the client sees their life and whether they'll work with you. Ask about the person, not only the problem.

If someone else sent the client (a partner, a court, an employer, a school), ask about it early and plainly. Naming the pressure out loud often takes some of the heat out of it.

Example exchange 1: engaging a client who was sent

Marcus, 46, invented, booked a first session because his wife told him she's worried about his drinking.

Therapist: What brings you in today?

Marcus: My wife made the appointment. She thinks I drink too much.

Therapist: So coming here was more her idea than yours.

Marcus: Pretty much. I'm not saying I'm a saint. But I work hard, and a few beers at night is how I switch off.

Therapist: Drinking does something for you. It's how the workday ends.

Marcus: Right. Although lately it's more than a few.

Therapist: Tell me about lately.

What the therapist did: one open question, then two reflections before the next question. The first reflection named the pressure without arguing with it. The second showed she understood what drinking gives him. Marcus brought up "lately" on his own, the first hint of change talk, and the therapist asked him to say more instead of pouncing on it with "So you know it's a problem."

Focusing questions: agreeing where the conversation is going

Clients often arrive with several concerns, and you may have one of your own: the reason for referral, or a score that worries you. Focusing means choosing a direction together. Questions here offer choices and ask permission.

TIP 35 calls this agenda mapping: write each concern in its own circle, leave a few circles blank so either of you can add one, and ask where to start. When you add a topic yourself, frame it so the choice stays with the client.

Example exchange 2: agenda mapping with four concerns

Priya, 31, invented, came in for anxiety. In the first half of the session she mentioned poor sleep, a demanding manager, wine most evenings and scrolling on her phone until 1 a.m.

Therapist: You've told me about a few things today: the sleep, your manager, the wine in the evenings and the late nights on your phone. Is there anything I've missed?

Priya: Money, probably. But that's a whole other thing.

Therapist: So money's on the list too. Of all of those, where would you like to start?

Priya: Sleep. If I slept, I could deal with the rest.

Therapist: Sleep feels like the one holding the others up.

Priya: Yeah. And the phone and the wine are probably part of why I don't sleep.

What the therapist did: summarized the list, asked what was missing and let Priya choose. Priya chose sleep and connected it to the wine and the phone herself. Those two now come into the conversation on her terms, not as the therapist's agenda.

Evoking questions: drawing out change talk

Evoking is what most people mean when they search for motivational interviewing questions. The aim is for the client, not you, to voice the reasons for change. There's research behind the emphasis: in a study of 84 clients in drug treatment, the strength of their commitment language during the interview, especially while they talked through a change plan, predicted the share of days they stayed abstinent over the following year. Their statements of desire, ability, need and reasons predicted that commitment (Amrhein and colleagues, 2003).

Change talk is usually sorted into two groups, remembered as DARN-CAT:

These lists cover the four preparatory types first, then the strategies from MINT's Ten Strategies handout: rulers, looking back and forward, extremes, values and elaboration. Swap [change] for the client's own words for it.

Desire questions

Ability questions

Reasons questions

Need questions

Importance and confidence rulers

Rulers are the most borrowed MI tool and the most often misused. Ask:

Then the follow-up does the work:

The direction of the follow-up matters. "Why a 5 and not a 2?" asks for reasons to change. "Why only a 5?" asks the client to defend not changing. MINT's handout also advises against "How ready are you?", which "tends to be confusing because it combines competing components of desire, ability, reasons and need." Ask about importance and confidence separately. If the client says 0, ask what would have to happen for it to become a 1.

Looking back, looking forward and querying extremes

Values questions

Elaboration questions: after you hear change talk

When change talk shows up, don't move on. MINT's EARS sheet lists four responses to it: Elaborating, Affirming, Reflecting and Summarizing. The elaborating questions are short:

Example exchange 3: an importance ruler with a client who stopped walking

Elena, 38, invented, has been in therapy for low mood for six weeks. She used to walk every morning and stopped last winter.

Therapist: You've mentioned the walks a couple of times. On a scale from 0 to 10, how important is it to you to get back to them?

Elena: Maybe a 5.

Therapist: A 5. Why a 5 and not a 2?

Elena: Because I felt more like myself when I walked. I slept better. And it was the only part of the day that was mine.

Therapist: Walking gave you time that belonged to you, and you felt like yourself.

Elena: Yes. I miss that.

Therapist: What else did you notice when you were walking regularly?

Elena: My head was clearer at work. I'd forgotten that.

Therapist: You pay close attention to what helps you, even in a hard stretch. So it's the sleep, the clearer head and having something that's yours, and part of you misses it.

What the therapist did: asked the ruler, then followed up in the direction of change. After each piece of change talk she reflected it or asked for more ("What else?"), then affirmed a strength Elena has shown and closed with a short summary of Elena's own reasons. That's all four parts of EARS. She didn't ask about confidence yet. That comes when Elena starts talking about how.

Planning questions: from why to how

Planning starts when the client's language shifts from why to how: more commitment and activation talk, less sustain talk, questions about what other people do. TIP 35 suggests a recapitulation summary of the client's change talk followed by a key question, and warns against moving into planning while the client still voices enough sustain talk to show they aren't ready.

Key questions, to test whether the client is ready:

Questions for building the plan:

Planning is still MI. The client chooses the goal and the steps. You offer options, with permission, when they ask or get stuck.

Example exchange 4: from a summary to a first step

Devon, 27, invented, has talked over two sessions about vaping more since starting a new job.

Therapist: Let me check I have this right. You're spending more on it than you want to, you notice it in your chest when you play basketball, and you don't like reaching for it every time a meeting gets stressful. You also said you quit once before, for four months. Where does that leave you?

Devon: I think I want to stop. Not cut down. Stop.

Therapist: You want to stop completely, not cut down.

Devon: Yeah. I just don't know when.

Therapist: What would be a good first step this week?

Devon: Not buying a new one when this one runs out. It'll be done by Friday.

Therapist: So Friday's the day. What might get in the way?

Devon: Monday morning. The team meeting.

Therapist: The last time you quit, what helped when work got stressful?

Devon: I'd walk around the block after meetings. And I told my brother, so he'd check on me.

Therapist: You already know two things that work for you. From 0 to 10, how confident are you that you'll skip buying a new one on Friday?

Devon: An 8.

What the therapist did: opened with a summary of Devon's change talk and a key question. Devon named the goal himself. The therapist reflected it, then asked about the first step, the obstacle and what worked before, and Devon built his own plan. If he had said "I don't know, it's a lot," she would have gone back to evoking instead of pushing a plan.

Questions for sharing information: ask, offer, ask

Sometimes the client needs something from you: what a score means, what the research says, which options exist. MI handles this with Elicit-Provide-Elicit, often taught as ask, offer, ask, which TIP 35 recommends. The questions frame the information:

Keep the middle part short and neutral, and let the client draw the conclusion.

When the answer is sustain talk or discord

Sustain talk is the client's own case for staying the same ("I like a drink, everyone does"). Discord is friction between the two of you ("You sound like my wife"). Both are normal. More questions usually make either one worse: questions about sustain talk get you more sustain talk, and questions in the middle of discord feel like cross-examination. Reflections work better:

Example exchange 5: repairing discord

Marcus again, in his second session.

Therapist: Have you thought about cutting back during the week?

Marcus: You sound like my wife.

Therapist: I jumped ahead. That's your call to make, not mine or anyone else's.

Marcus: Thanks. I just get tired of everyone having an opinion.

Therapist: A lot of people have been telling you what to do, and you'd like to work this out for yourself.

Marcus: Yeah. I'm not against looking at it. I just want it to be my idea.

What the therapist did: her first question was advice dressed as a question, and it caused discord. Instead of defending it or asking another question, she owned it, handed the decision back and reflected what was underneath. Marcus's last line is change talk.

Reflections to pair with your questions

A good working rule: after the client answers an open question, reflect before you ask the next one. TIP 35 describes simple reflections as repeating or rephrasing, and complex reflections as "using different words to reflect the underlying meaning or feeling" of what the client said. Here is one statement from Elena, answered at different depths.

Elena: "I know walking helps, but by the time the kids are at school I've got nothing left."

Complex reflections guess at what's underneath, which is why they move a conversation further than a question would. If your guess is wrong, the client corrects you, and you learn something either way.

Common mistakes with motivational interviewing questions

1Closed questions where you need a story

Five rewrites:

2The question-answer trap

Three questions in a row is a warning sign. The client's answers get shorter, you work harder, and the session turns into an interview. Stop and reflect, or summarize what you've heard so far, before you ask anything new.

3The fixing (righting) reflex

TIP 35 describes the righting reflex as the natural response to "fix" a person's problems from a desire to help. It shows up as advice, warnings and "Have you tried...?" When you argue for change, the client tends to argue the other side, and hears themselves make the case for not changing.

4"Why haven't you...?" questions

"Why haven't you started yet?", "Why don't you just stop?" and "Why can't you?" invite the client to list reasons for not changing, which is sustain talk. Point the why toward change instead: "Why would you want to make this change?" or "What makes this important now?"

5Asking "How ready are you?"

MINT's handout calls it confusing (see the rulers section above). Ask about importance and confidence as two separate questions.

6Ruler follow-ups that point the wrong way

"Why only a 4?" asks for reasons the number is low. "Why a 4 and not a 1?" asks for the reasons it isn't lower, and those are reasons to change.

7Spending evoking time on the upside of the status quo

Asking what the client likes about the behavior is useful while engaging: it shows you understand, and it often lowers defensiveness. A full pros-and-cons exercise is a different method. Miller and Rose reviewed the evidence and concluded that a decisional balance suits a neutral stance, while evoking change talk "is appropriate when the clinician intends to help clients resolve ambivalence in the direction of change" (Miller and Rose, 2015). TIP 35 adds that decisional balancing "may increase ambivalence for clients who are contemplating change."

8Planning before the client is ready

Ask "What's your first step?" while the client is still mostly saying why not, and you'll get a vague plan or a polite yes. Go back to evoking.

9Advice disguised as a question

"Have you thought about a support group?" is advice with a question mark. Ask permission and offer it as one option among several: "Would it help if I mentioned a few things other people have found useful?"

10Stacked questions

"What do you want to change, how would you do it, and what's stopping you?" The client answers the last part, usually the barriers. One question at a time.

11Missing the change talk

The client says "I suppose I could try it on weekends," and you move to the next topic. Respond with EARS: ask for more, affirm, reflect it or add it to a summary.

A question card you can copy and print

Copy this into a document, print it, and keep it out of the client's view. A few questions in mind beat a long list in your hand.

How to check your own question use

You can't count your questions while you're asking them, but a recording can. The MITI 4.2.1 coding manual (Moyers, Manuel and Ernst, hosted by MINT) recommends coding a random 20-minute segment and suggests these thresholds for clinicians. The authors note they're based on expert opinion, not norms:

To try it, ask the client for written consent to record a session, pick 20 minutes, and make a tally mark for each question and each reflection. A recording of a session is protected health information: keep it with the same protections as your notes, and follow your setting's policy on how long to keep it.

For structured feedback, a MINT trainer can code a recording for you. MINT keeps a trainer listing and notes that membership "is not a certification of training competence" (Choosing a MI Trainer), so ask any trainer about their coding experience.

How to write MI into your session notes

A note should say what you did and how the client responded. For MI, that means the task you were in, the strategies you used, any ruler scores and a short quote of the client's change talk. The Intervention and Response sections of a BIRP note for Elena's session might read:

In a DAP note, the same content goes in Data, and your reading of it ("importance moderate, confidence not yet assessed") goes in Assessment. For full structures, see the BIRP note example, the DAP notes examples and the progress notes cheat sheet.

How this works in TranqBay

TranqBay is practice software for therapists in private practice. Here's where it touches an MI conversation:

practice.tranqbay.health shows a session from the booking page through the video call to the note on its session page, if you want to see where forms and notes sit around an MI conversation.

Frequently asked questions about motivational interviewing questions

Before your next session

Pick the task you find hardest, copy those questions onto the card, and set one rule for the session: reflect before every new question. Afterward, with your client's consent, listen to 20 minutes of the recording and count.

If you also want booking, video sessions, client forms and session notes in one place, look at a practice website template and the booking page your clients would use. If you're deciding whether to join, this page explains how joining TranqBay works.

To practice the skills these questions sit inside, see OARS in motivational interviewing, with weak and strong examples and a printable card.

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