Although the formal, written history of counseling psychology is now just passing the half-century mark, the roots of the profession lie in sociocultural and disciplinary developments of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Changes in lifestyles and work, two world wars, and the Great Depression created the need for a new helping profession-counseling psychology was a profession "waiting to happen." Conceptual developments in psychology and mental health care formed the foundation for the research and practice of the emerging profession and served to delineate its five unifying themes.