Behaviour change in practice: targeting individuals.

This paper describes the emergence of motivational interviewing in the addictions field, and the development of broader negotiating methods for use in medical consultations about behaviour change. It is argued that much of this material should be relevant to the treatment of obesity in brief medical consultations. It should be possible to encourage patients to be much more active in the consultation, and for practitioners to avoid some of the pitfalls of ineffective advice-giving. Four potentially relevant clinical strategies are described.