Six Necessary and Sufficient Conditions

Carl Rogers stated that ‘for constructive personality change to occur, it is necessary that these [six] conditions exist and continue over a period of time.' The conditions are:

1. Psychological contact between counsellor and client
2. The client is incongruent (anxious or vulnerable)
3. The counsellor is congruent
4. The counsellor shows unconditional positive regard towards the client
5. The client receives empathy from the counsellor
6. The client perceives acceptance and unconditional positive regard

The six necessary and sufficient conditions are ‘the hypothesised conditions by which the therapist facilitates constructive personality change’ (Tudor and Merry, 2006: 23-24).

Origins of the Term

Carl Rogers first used the term in a paper published in 1957 by the Journal of Consulting Psychology.

He listed the six conditions as follows:

1. Two persons are in psychological contact.
2. The first, whom we shall term the client, is in a state of incongruence, being vulnerable or anxious.
3. The second person, whom we shall term the therapist, is congruent or integrated in the relationship.
4. The therapist experiences unconditional positive regard for the client.
5. The therapist experiences an empathic understanding of the client's internal frame of reference and endeavours to communicate this experience to the client.
6. The communication to the client of the therapist's empathic understanding and unconditional positive regard is to a minimal degree achieved.’

"No other conditions are necessary. If these six conditions exist and continue over a period of time, this is sufficient. The process of constructive personality change will follow." (Rogers, 1957: 95–96)

The Core Conditions

The term ‘core conditions’ is often associated with Carl Rogers, but in fact he never actually used the term. Tudor (2000, p. 34) asserts that this term was coined by Carkhuff (1969a, 1969b), who used it in ‘identifying from divergent orientations to therapy “core, facilitative and action-oriented conditions” by which the helper facilitated change in the client (or 'helpee')’.

The term ‘core conditions' appears then to have been adopted by people who were close to Rogers, and applied to three of the six necessary and sufficient conditions described by Rogers in 1957: empathy, congruence and unconditional positive regard (UPR). Thus, ‘although Rogers himself did not use the term, it has nevertheless become part of the person-centred lexicon’ (Tudor, 2000, p. 34).

Other terms used are the ‘facilitative conditions’ or ‘therapist’s conditions’.

These conditions can be expressed in plain English as follows:

1. The counsellor is congruent (genuine).
2. The counsellor experiences unconditional positive regard (UPR) – non-judgmental warmth and acceptance – towards the client.
3. The counsellor feels empathy towards the client.

Kelly (2017: 18) writes:

"Together, the core conditions build deep rapport and trust within the relationship. And with deep rapport and trust, we are able to work at relational depth (Mearns and Cooper, 2005) – which is where real movement happens."

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Six Conditions for Therapeutic Personality Change

The Hidden Conditions

The other three conditions – numbers 1, 2 and 6 – are known as the ‘hidden conditions’, ‘client’s conditions’ or ‘lost conditions’. These are less well-known than the core conditions.

These conditions can be expressed more simply as follows:

1. The counsellor makes psychological contact with the client (i.e., they are ‘on the same page’ psychologically).

2. The client is incongruent (vulnerable or anxious).

6. The client receives the congruence, UPR and empathy of the counsellor.

Psychological contact (condition 1) can be made only if the client is capable of giving informed consent.

Barriers to this could be severe mental health issues such as active psychosis, severe learning difficulties, or attending under the influence of drugs, alcohol or prescribed medication.

"If these six conditions exist, and continue over a period of time, this is sufficient. The process of constructive personality change will follow" (Rogers, 1957: 95–96).

If psychological contact cannot be made, then there is an ethical issue around autonomy, the ability for the client to make an informed choice in contracting with the therapist.

If the client is seeking not counselling but friendship or expert advice (e.g., on debt management or the law), or if they are not ready for counselling (perhaps they are at stage 1 or 2 of the seven stages of process, and so are not yet open to change, and instead blame others for their misfortune or do not take responsibility for their actions), then condition 2 would not be met.

Finally, if a client is unable to trust the counsellor (for example, due to transference), or the two simply do not gel, condition 6 will not be met as the client will not feel safe enough to discuss what is really on their mind.

This condition is arguably the most difficult to fulfill as it asks the counsellor both to give enough time for the client to build trust, and to be congruent enough in the relationship to explore with the client any reluctance to fully engage.

If any of the six necessary and sufficient conditions – which are ‘best seen as a gestalt or unity operating together rather than as separate elements’ (Merry, 2014: 71) – cannot be met, then referral to another therapist/service is the ethical course of action.

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Six Conditions for Therapeutic Personality Change

References

Carkhuff, R. R. (1969a). Helping and Human Relations Volume 1: Selection and Training. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.

Carkhuff, R. R. (1969b). Helping and Human Relations Volume 1: Practice and Research. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.

Kelly, K. (2017) Basic Counselling Skills: A Student Guide

Mearns, D. and Cooper M. (2005) Relational Depth in Counselling and Psychotherapy, Sage

Merry, T. (2014) Learning and Being in Person-Centred Counselling, PCCS Books

Tudor, K. (2000). The Case of the Lost Conditions. Counselling, 33–37.

Tudor, K. and Merry T. (2006) Dictionary of Person-Centred Psychology, PCCS Books

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