That the client is incongruent and at least to some degree aware of that incongruence (as vulnerability or anxiety) is a necessary condition for therapy

The second of Rogers’ (1957) necessary and sufficient conditions for successful therapy demands that the client is (p. 96) ‘in a state of incongruence, being vulnerable or anxious’. In technical terms, incongruence is a discrepancy between the self as perceived and the actual experience of the organism. Rogers (1959: 203) indicates that such a discrepancy results in a state of tension and internal confusion because in some respects behaviour is regulated by the actualising tendency and in others by the self-actualising tendency. This gives rise to ‘discordant or incomprehensible behaviors’. Incongruent individuals feel at least a degree of confusion because there is conflict between their feelings and behaviour and what they consciously ‘want’. According to Tudor and Merry (2002: 72), incongruence can be considered to manifest as one of three process elements: ‘a general and generalised vulnerability, a dimly perceived tension or anxiety, and a sharp awareness of incongruence’.