ABSTRACT
In a way, it goes without saying that person-centred therapy is a helping relationship, the objective of which is to offer the client opportunities for healing and/or growth – this is the aim of counselling and psychotherapy as a whole. However, person-centred theory has a particular take on how this can be done in practice. The necessary and sufficient conditions resulted from the empirical observation of what actually does promote ‘constructive personality change’. Basically, this amounts to an understanding that it is the quality of relationship that matters, not expert knowledge and the application of technique. There is a great deal of support for the conclusion that what clients find helpful is a caring, respectful, understanding relationship in which they can examine and analyse their thoughts and feelings without hindrance or interference (see, for example, Howe 1993; Proctor 2002: 89–90). The first task of the person-centred practitioner is to offer a relationship of this quality. The foundation stone for this is the therapist’s attitude and commitment to the non-directive attitude and a belief in the client’s actualising tendency and (therefore) trustworthy process. From this attitude and belief stems the desire and ability to implement the six 162necessary and sufficient conditions (not just the so-called ‘core conditions’). This is because, although the therapist-provided conditions of congruence in the relationship, empathic understanding and unconditional positive regard are vital, it is only in the context of the contact between client and therapist, the anxiety and vulnerability of the client and the client’s reception and perception of the therapist’s respect and understanding that they are effective. To lose sight of any one or more of the necessary and sufficient conditions is to risk losing an understanding of what is happening in the relationship as a whole and the needs and perceptions of its participants. Instead, concentrating only on the core conditions is equivalent to paying attention only to the behaviour, feelings and intentions of the therapist. The questions become ‘Am I congruent/empathic/accepting’ rather than ‘Are my client and I in contact?’, ‘Does my client need therapy and is what I can provide likely to be useful (i.e. is my client not only incongruent in our relationship but vulnerable and/or anxious)?’ and ‘Is my client perceiving empathy and unconditional positive regard from me?’ Concentration on the therapist-provided conditions changes what is going on from a relationship to something the therapist does to the client.
