Experiential congruence: qualitative analysis of client and counsellor narrative accounts of significant events in time-limited person-centred therapy

Soti Grafanaki, John McLeod

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article

Abstract

The concept of congruence represents a core theoretical construct in the development of client-centred therapy, and remains fundamental to the practice of experiential approaches to psychotherapy. This study explores the ways in which congruence is experienced during significant moments of therapy. Client and counsellor accounts of moments of congruence/incongruence were collected from six cases of person-centred counselling, and were analysed using a method of narrative analysis. It was found that participants experienced congruence in a variety of ways, suggesting that the construct does not describe a unitary phenomenon. Congruence was experienced as simultaneously intrapsychic and relational. The effective negotiation of episodes of incongruence comprised a necessary element of effective therapy. Further research into the nature of congruence may be valuable in contributing to new understandings of how therapeutic alliances are made, broken and repaired.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)20-32
Number of pages13
JournalCounselling and Psychotherapy Research
Volume2
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Mar 2002

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Negotiating
Psychotherapy
Counseling
Therapeutics
Research
Person-Centered Therapy
Counselors

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Grafanaki, Soti ; McLeod, John. / Experiential congruence : qualitative analysis of client and counsellor narrative accounts of significant events in time-limited person-centred therapy. In: Counselling and Psychotherapy Research. 2002 ; Vol. 2, No. 1. pp. 20-32.
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Grafanaki, S & McLeod, J 2002, 'Experiential congruence: qualitative analysis of client and counsellor narrative accounts of significant events in time-limited person-centred therapy', Counselling and Psychotherapy Research, vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 20-32. https://doi.org/10.1080/14733140212331384958

Experiential congruence : qualitative analysis of client and counsellor narrative accounts of significant events in time-limited person-centred therapy. / Grafanaki, Soti; McLeod, John.

In: Counselling and Psychotherapy Research, Vol. 2, No. 1, 03.2002, p. 20-32.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article

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Grafanaki S, McLeod J. Experiential congruence: qualitative analysis of client and counsellor narrative accounts of significant events in time-limited person-centred therapy. Counselling and Psychotherapy Research. 2002 Mar;2(1):20-32. https://doi.org/10.1080/14733140212331384958

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