The proposal of six necessary and suf®cient conditions for therapeutic change is an integrative statement describing the elements of any successful therapeutic relationship. It is untrue that the practice of person-centred therapy involves but three `core conditions'

One of the most widespread misassumptions about personcentred theory is that there are three `core conditions' (usually named as `empathy', `congruence' and `acceptance' or `unconditional positive regard'), the practice of which de®nes personcentred therapy. This is not so. The famous hypothesis of the necessary and suf®cient conditions for therapeutic change (Rogers 1957: 95±103, 1959: 213) comprises six statements. From Rogers (1957: 96) these conditions are:

1. Two persons are in psychological contact. 2. The ®rst, 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.