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Adolescence and emerging adulthood are transitional periods in the lives of Western youth, many of whom experiment with alcohol and drugs, along with volitional lifestyle and identity choices. The most commonly used substances are those that are legal, including alcohol and tobacco, followed closely by marijuana. These substances are tried commonly enough that such minor experimentation can be seen as normative. Experimentation with alcohol and drugs is a rite of passage that does not lead to irrevocable harm for the majority of people. However, a minority show heavier patterns of drinking, more frequent binge drinking, or early onset of drug use, all of which are related to numerous health harms. For a subset of these young people, preventive interventions may be needed to alter a course toward aberrant, hazardous, and health-harming substance use. Preventive interventions for adolescents generally strive to delay the initiation of use, while those for emerging adults attempt to minimize any consequences or harms of drinking or drug use. The next wave of preventive and treatment interventions will take advantage of advances in identifying those with the highest risk of progressing to dependence and early health problems and will tailor treatment to each individual to forestall future problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Motivational Interviewing is a counseling approach in which therapists use a client-centered stance paired with eliciting techniques to help clients explore and resolve their ambivalences about changing behaviors that are not optimally healthy. It is characterized by a collaborative, autonomy-supporting, and evocative style in which therapists seek to understand clients΄ perspectives, while directing clients towards considering changing one or more behaviors. Although it has strong roots in client-centered counseling, Motivational Interviewing can be considered atheoretical or theoretically eclectic. Currently, there is no comprehensive theory of Motivational Interviewing, although there are several threads relating Motivational Interviewing to personal growth and self-determination, to activation of emotions as a bridge to increased openness to change, and as a therapeutic approach that combines a friendly-submissive interpersonal style with more directive tasks. The relational and technical elements combine to evoke increased consideration or and openness to change, and therapists pay particular attention to client communications about change in order to focus efforts toward moving into new patterns rather than processing or dwelling in old patterns. Motivational Interviewing has strong evidence for its positive impact on addictive behavior. It often achieves good outcomes with fewer sessions and less time than other substance abuse treatment methods. There is a growing evidence base in support of adaptations of Motivational Interviewing across a wide array of practice domains, settings, problem behaviors, and conditions. Generally, Motivational Interviewing is superior to no treatment and is equivalent to other active treatments despite its relative brevity, thus there may be cost effectiveness advantages to Motivational Interviewing. Recent focus on measuring treatment fidelity and exploring possible mechanisms of actions should help to shed further light on the workings of Motivational Interviewing. Finally, as Motivational Interviewing expands across settings and cultures, it is being redefined in light of new experiences and developments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]