ABSTRACT
The evidence presented is deduced from a variety of sources and, with the exception of the Pygmalion research and Goldstein’s work on prognostic expectations, has not been designed to test the self-fulfilling prophecy type hypothesis per se. In this way the client may begin to reconstrue the possibilities open to him, that is to say, begin making positive self-fulfilling prophecies about his own future. In a perfect world the client would be matched to the professional helper who liked him and firmly believed that he could help to develop the potential in the client. The need for the client to come to treatment with ‘realistic’ expectations and the need for status and prestige all suggest that the helping professions need a skilful and effective public relations job done to ‘sell’ the optimum image to the public, i.e. the potential clientele.
