Paraprofessional programs are affected by complex political pressures. The psychologist who plans to support such programs should be aware of these pressures and should develop the techniques needed to deal with them effectively.Paraprofessional activities are "in" right now. Much is being written about manpower shortages (Albee, 1959(Albee, , 1963Arnoff, 1967;Kurkland, 1970), about youth's growing distrust of conventional institutions and approaches to social problems (Adler, 1969), and about the lack of street level experience among professionals (note the pictorial essay, "Voices," 1972). The 50-minute hour, to cite one example, is currently a popular target of criticism. Each of the pressures on professional psychologists to become more involved in organizing Paraprofessional activities has a certain validity.Of much more importance, however, is the existence of a street level need. If Requests for reprints should be sent to

Prerecorded self-help tapes are a recently developed and apparently useful adjunct to telephone counseling services. Patterns of requests for such tapes may be a useful index of systematic changes in clientele needs. Requests for tapes, however, may be a function not only of preexisting community needs but also of varying patterns of advertising. Post hoc analysis of tape requests and advertising patterns in one telephone counseling service suggests extreme caution in the interpretation of tape-request patterns.