Clinical Psychology and Counseling Psychology: On Similarities and Differences Revisited

As psychology specialties, clinical and counseling psychology appear similar in many respects. Although each specialty is considered to possess its own distinctive features, some researchers have recently examined clinical-counseling convergences, which suggests that the two specialties may now be nearer to an integration than in previous times. In an effort to further consider and examine possible convergences between clinical and counseling psychology, we replicated the comparative study of Osipow, Cohen, Jenkins, and Dostal (1979) . Osipow et al., drawing on data in the 1975 American Psychological Association (APA) directory, compared clinical and counseling psychologists on major fields, interest areas, and work settings. We drew on data from the 1985 APA directory to determine current clinical-counseling similarities and differences for the same three areas. Comparisons are made between the 1975 and 1985 data, and some of the data's implications about convergences and divergences between the clinical and counseling specialties are discussed.