BACKGROUND A recommendation in original descriptions of motivational interviewing (MI) was to "explore ambivalence". Contrasting procedures for doing so have been clarified through the evolution of MI. AIMS This article describes two conceptually distinct methods for responding to ambivalence: decisional balance (DB) and MI's evocation of change talk, and reviews empirical evidence to recomme...

OBJECTIVES Research on family relations has extensively used the intergenerational solidarity model proposed by Bengtson and colleagues. Recently, the relevance of this model for explaining changes in family relations has been questioned, and the concept of intergenerational ambivalence has been proposed as a relevant addition to the model, supposedly acting as a catalyst, and thus serving as a...

Individuals vulnerable to obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) are hypothesized to have ambivalence about their self-worth, morality and lovability [Guidano, V., & Liotti, G. (1983). Cognitive processes and emotional disorders. New York: Guildford Press]. The purpose of this study was to examine whether self-ambivalence was associated with OCD phenomena and beliefs relevant to OCD. It also exami...