{"id":68762,"date":"2021-11-09T13:45:12","date_gmt":"2021-11-09T13:45:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/counsellingtu.onpressidium.com\/?page_id=68762"},"modified":"2021-11-09T13:55:16","modified_gmt":"2021-11-09T13:55:16","slug":"congruence-in-counselling","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/counsellingtutor.com\/counselling-approaches\/person-centred-approach-to-counselling\/congruence-in-counselling\/","title":{"rendered":"Congruence"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t

Congruence<\/h1>\n\t

Definition<\/h2>\n\t

Feltham and Dryden (1993, p. 36) define ‘congruence’ as ‘genuineness, honesty exhibited by the counsellor as an essential part of her person and her work; likewise, the genuineness of the client’.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\"Congruence\n\t\t\t\t\t\tIcons made by Freepik<\/a> from www.flaticon.com<\/a>\n\t

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Origin of Congruence as a Counselling Concept<\/h3>\n\t

The concept of congruence was first mentioned in relation to person-centred counselling. In the mid-1950s, psychiatrist, educator, and family therapist Carl Whitaker and colleagues – working in Atlanta, USA – developed the concept of a therapeutic attitude of genuineness or wholeness (Tudor and Merry, 2006, p. 29).<\/p>\n

This was later taken up by Carl Rogers, who – in a 1957 article for the Journal of Consulting Psychology<\/em> – published his ideas on what constituted the six necessary and sufficient conditions for therapeutic personality change. Conditions 2 and 3 relate to congruence, one in the client and the other in the counsellor:<\/p>\n

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  1. The first, whom we shall term the client, is in a state of incongruence, being vulnerable or anxious.<\/em><\/li>\n
  2. The second person, whom we shall term the therapist, is congruent or integrated in the relationship.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    This represented a sea change from the psychoanalytical approach, which had prevailed during the 1940s and in which the therapist specifically aimed to serve as a ‘blank canvas’.<\/p>\n\t

    Incongruence in the Client<\/h3>\n\t

    ‘Incongruence’ refers to ‘the discrepancy between the actual experience and the self-picture of the individual insofar as it represents that experience’ (Tudor and Merry, 2006, p. 72). They continue: ‘Incongruence develops and is maintained by the person through their selective perception of experience on the basis of conditions of worth.’<\/p>\n

    There are three process elements of incongruence (Tudor and Merry, 2006, p. 72):<\/p>\n