In their article “Congruence Reconsidered”, Keith Tudor and Mike Worrall reconsider the elements of congruence, as described by Rogers, and its importance in therapeutic personality change compared to the other core conditions. According to the authors, congruence is the main primary quality of a counselor that makes therapy effective. Congruence as authenticity consists of four elements: self-awareness, self-awareness in action, communication and appropriateness. All other conditions including psychological contact, the state of client, unconditional positive regard, empathic understanding, the client’s perception and presence will not suffice without the central condition, which is congruence.
In his article “The Necessary and Sufficient Conditions of Therapeutic Personality Change”, Carl R. Rogers analyzes the six indispensable conditions for a therapeutic personality change to be successful. These are the establishment of psychological contact between the client and the counselor, the congruency and integrity of the latter and the absence of these in the former, the necessity for a therapist to have unconditional positive regard for the client, be empathic to him or her and communication of these feelings to the client to a minimal degree.
The chapter “Evidence-Based Therapy Relationships” by John C. Norcross and Michael J. Lambert provides research on the interdivisional Task Force process of studying the elements of therapy that are effective according to the existing evidence, as well as finding out the effective methods in adapting therapy to each individual client. The authors suggest two possible models for accounting for the psychotherapy success or failure and answer the frequently asked questions.
References
Norcross, J., & Lambert, M. (2011). Evidence-based therapy relationships. In Psychotherapy relationships that work: Evidence-based responsiveness (2nd ed.). New York: Oxford University Press.
Rogers, C. (1992). The necessary and sufficient conditions of therapeutic personality change. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 60(6), 827-832.
Tudor, K., & Worrall, M. (1994). Congruence reconsidered. British Journal of Guidance & Counselling, 22(2), 197-206.
