Note: In what follows, I use the word ``therapist'' for convenience. I think these conditions are useful for both therapists and changeworkers.

An outcome should satisfy the following conditions: 1) Stated in the positive. 2) Appropriately specific and contextualized. 3) Verifyable (in sensory experience). 4) Initiated and maintained by the subject. 5) Secondary gain taken care of. 6) ``Ecological.''

1) Most often a client's outcome will have the form ``I want to stop doing X'' (especially if instead of asking ``What do you want?'' the therapist asks ``What's your problem?'' or ``What's bothering you?'') But in order to change what is, you must replace it by something else. It's important that this replacement behavior be a deliberate choice and not one simply made by default.

Finding an outcome stated in the positive often isn't easy, but it can also be very powerful in letting a therapist know how to proceed. When a client says ``I want to stop being jealous about my husband,'' the therapist can ask ``How would you like to feel when you see your husband with another woman?'' But the client is likely to ``draw a blank'' when this question is asked. The question ``does not compute'' for her. The client's lack of a positive outcome is part of what keeps her in the problem state.

The videotape ``Lasting Feelings'' shows Leslie Cameron Bandler working with a client on the issue of jealousy, together with Leslie's own analysis of her work. Although Cameron Bandler never explicitly states her positive outcome, it is clear to me that it is something like the following: ``The client should be able to remember that her husband loves her and that she is not replaceable for him, even when she sees him talking to another woman. Furthermore, she should have effective and accurate ways of knowing whether jealousy is appropriate in a given situation or not.'' Given that positive outcome, the course that the piece of work should take then becomes much clearer. (Note: For a different client, the issue might instead be excessive possessiveness, or perhaps provocative behavior by the husband which would make couple therapy more appropriate. Having an explicit outcome in mind makes it easier to check that the direction one is going in is really appropriate for this particular client.)

2) Specific and contextualized: Typically clients will say things that are vague. A client's initial outcome may be: ``I want to make decisions more easily.'' If the therapist merely assumes that he knows what the client is talking about (especially likely if decision making is or has been in the past one of the therapist's own problems), a great deal of time may be wasted until the client finally says ``Yeah, but that's not my problem.'' The therapist needs to ask ``What are some examples of times when you have trouble making decisions? And what happens when you try to make a decision? And what do you mean by the word 'easily'?''

3) Verifyable: The typical question is: ``If this change actually does occur, how will you know it?'' In the exercises we did during my training, sometimes once the client was able to answer this question they realized that they already knew how to make the change in themselves.

4) Initiated and maintained by the subject: The purpose of changework is to bring about changes in the subject, not in the subject's environment. An example of an outcome that is not well formed in this respect is ``I want my husband to love me.''

This well-formedness condition is very frequently violated by a subject's initial outcome. Often a subject asks not for a change in himself per se, but a change in his life that would presumably result from changes in himself. For instance, ``I want to earn more money,'' or ``I want to be successful with women,'' or ``I want people to appreciate me more.'' Such outcomes are not well formed. The main task then lies in identifying those changes in behavior which might have the desired result. Once these changes in behavior have been identified, they can be used as outcomes for changework, if necessary. (Or once the client realizes what changes in himself are necessary for his desired result, he may decide that it's not worth it.)

5) Secondary gain taken care of: Often efforts to solve a problem are frustrated because if the client no longer had his problem, he would lose various side benefits the problem gives him. This is called secondary gain.

6) ``Ecological": One should think of a person as being a system. A change that seems desirable in and of itself will have ramifications throughout that system, and perhaps also throughout the relationships and other systems the subject is a part of. It is essential for a therapist to check not only that the desired change be worthwhile, but that all its consequences be worthwhile. Any changework training needs to use a multitude of examples to make students sensitive to this important issue.

There are problems for which an intervention is so standard that I never think about formulating a well-formed outcome. If a client says, ``I want to stop being afraid of heights,'' I would not ask ``How would you like to feel when you're up on a high place?'' If a client says ``I want to stop biting my nails'' I would never ask ``What do you want to do instead?'' On the other hand, if a client says ``I want to stop drinking,'' a therapist who does not address the question ``What will you do instead?'' is going to have a very difficult time.

For me, the times when I need to think about well-formedness conditions are the times when I feel really lost, when I just don't know where to go with a particular client. If I then start mentally reviewing the well- formedness conditions, this will often make me realize what additional information I need from the client, or what direction I should start taking him in.