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Counseling Psychology's Focus on Positive Aspects of Human Functioning

University of Kansas

Jeana L. Magyar-Moe

University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point

Stephanie E. Petersen

Lansing Correctional Facility, Lansing, Kansas

Jamie A. Ryder

Mt. Carmel Regional Medical Center, Pittsburg, Kansas

Thomas S. Krieshok

Kristin Koetting O'Byrne

James W. Lichtenberg

Nancy A. Fry

University of Kansas

The Major Contribution aims to provide interrelated articles that examine how counseling psychology's past and the complex world we live and work in bear on our professional understanding of human strengths and positive life outcomes. In this article, the authors examine the historical underpinnings of the positive in psychology, analyze the focus on the positive in counseling psychology scholarship through the decades (via a content analysis), and review scholarship that has shaped the strength-based work of professionals throughout applied psychology. The content analysis of a random selection of 20% (N = 1,135) of the articles published in the Journal of Counseling Psychology (JCP), The Counseling Psychologist (TCP), theJournal of Career Assessment (JCA), and theJournal of Multicultural Counseling and Development (JMCD) revealed that about 29% have a positive focus. This article calls attention to the positive in counseling psychology, and the authors encourage its members to reaffirm its unique positive focus by focusing more on strength in practice and research.

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