The empirical literature and the author's professional experience over four decades have convinced him that concerning practice patterns and work settings there is little to distinguish counseling psychology from other psychological practice specialties. What is distinctive are certain core values that undergird and distinguish this specialty. First, a definition of "values" is presented, followed by a brief review of a limited number of studies that address the topic of values and counseling psychology. Next, the author describes a qualitative study of the perceptions and beliefs of 18 experienced counseling psychology educators and trainers about core values that distinguish the specialty and set it apart from other psychology specialty practice areas. The final section presents nine proposed core values, most of which are distinctive to counseling psychology, derived logically from the themes of the literature and the interviews with the counseling psychology educators as filtered through the author's biases and assumptions.

During all of its history, the specialty of counseling psychology has evolved constantly in response to changes in the context in which it exists. As the specialty has changed, so too has training. This article discusses six forces that have affected the content and process of counseling psychology training and will continue to do so: market forces, practitioner-educator dialogues, expectations and directives from within the profession, social and political forces, technological innovations, and the cultural context of counseling psychology. We briefly discuss prescriptive authority as a topic that will affect professional training, then conclude by introducing five particular topics that will be covered in the other articles in this issue. All will affect counseling psychology training into at least the near future.

This study examined whether a group of 42 university women perceived their best and slight same-sex friendships as therapeutic. Of those subjects, 29 had best friends who also participated in the study. Two paper and pencil instruments were completed by all participants and 10 of the best friend pairs were interviewed. Results of the study indicated that both best and slight same-sex friendships had therapeutic value for women, with best friendships seen as more therapeutic than slight friendships. Rank ordering of the therapeutic factors used as a basis for the study resulted in agreement among subjects on the relative importance of the factors in their best and slight friendships. Subjects and their best friends were also in agreement on the worth and rank orderings of these factors. Background for the study is provided by the literature review which included psychological perspectives on friendship, friendship's therapeutic importance, and sex differences in friendship. An additional perspective on female friendship is offered based on literature and observations outside psychology. Results are discussed in light of these somewhat contradictory perspectives.

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