Michael Cavanagh & Stephen Palmer

Welcome to the latest issue of the ICPR and to our first special issue! It seems very fitting that the first special issue should deal with the interface between coaching psychology and positive psychology. As Drs Alex Linley and Carol Kauffman have pointed out in their editorial, coaching psychology and positive psychology share similar roots. Both branches of psychology are committed to helping people lead more productive and fulfilling lives, and both seek to nurture the development of strengths, and are committed to the development of theory and practice in ways which extend beyond the remediation of deficit. It is little wonder that this edition is such a bumper edition.

Speaking of the development of strengths, the contributions from around the globe clearly show something of the depth of strength available in the areas of positive and coaching psychology. This is perhaps not so surprising as for many psychologists the language of positive psychology articulates a direction and emphasis which has always been in their practice, at least in a nascent form. In this sense, as Stephen Joseph points out in his interview, the boundaries between different areas of applied psychology are quite blurred. The remediation of deficit and the development of positive function are often two sides of the same coin. As psychology develops more and more toward a cohesive vision of the human person, the distinctions between areas of applied psychology are likely to become more blurred rather than distinct.

Alex Linley and Carol Kaufman have done a marvellous job as guest editors for this special issue. They have selected articulate researchers and writers and have brought those contributions together neatly. Kauffman and Linley’s final paper (titled, A pragmatic perspective, putting positive coaching psychology into practice), nicely draws out some practical implication of each of the papers presented.

We hope to make at least one of the issues of the ICPR a special issue each year. To this end we are looking for suggestions of what you would like to see as focus topics. If you have an area of passion in coaching psychology, and/or would like to act as a special editor, please drop us a line.

Michael Cavanagh
Coaching Psychology Unit,
Department of Psychology,
Sydney University,
Sydney, Australia.
E-mail: michaelc@psych.usyd.edu.au

Stephen Palmer
Coaching Psychology Unit,
Department of Psychology,
City University,
Northampton Square,
London, UK.
E-mail: s.palmer-1@city.ac.uk