On Myopia, Rhetoric, and Reality in Counseling Psychology

Abstract

This article considers two basic issues about counseling psychology: (1) that a specialty whose predominant focus is on developmental/educational and preventive interventions for relatively "normal" or mildly distressed individuals may become increasingly irrelevant and unmarketable in our current mental health system and (2) that aparadox seems to exist between the contemporary practice of counseling psychology and the literature that defines the specialty. The need to remedy this paradox and adopt an expanded model of counsel psychology is considered.