ABSTRACT
It was specified that it is necessary that the client be ‘in a state of incongruence, being vulnerable or anxious’. What is the meaning of these terms?
Incongruence is a basic construct in the theory we have been developing. It refers to a discrepancy between the actual experience of the organism and the self picture of the individual insofar as it represents that experience. Thus a student may experience, at a total or organismic level, a fear of the university and of examinations which are given on the third floor of a certain building, since these may demonstrate a fundamental inadequacy in him. Since such a fear of his inadequacy is decidedly at odds with his personal concept this experience is represented (distortedly) in his awareness as an unreasonable fear of climbing stairs in this building, or any building, and soon an unreasonable fear of crossing the open campus. Thus there is a fundamental discrepancy between the experienced meaning of the situation as it registers in his organism and the symbolic representation of that experience in awareness in such a way that it does not conflict with his own picture. In this case to admit a fear of inadequacy would contradict the picture he holds of himself: to admit incomprehensible fears does not contradict his self concept.
