As part of our Motivational Interviewing courses, we take a look at how much of an effect 'ambivalence' has on patients.
Ambivalence is a conflicted state where opposing attitudes or feelings coexist in an individual; they are stuck between simultaneously wanting to change and not wanting to change.
As an example, when the health professional advises the patient that they should “cut down or cut out” these sweet drinks and foods, the patient’s natural response is to argue the other side of the ambivalence, “it’s not that bad, I don’t eat any more than my next door neighbour and she’s fine”.