What is the difference between Psychotherapy and Counselling?
Psychotherapy The treatment of mental and emotional disorders through the use of psychological techniques designed to encourage communication of conflicts and insight into problems, with the goal being relief of symptoms, changes in behavior leading to improved social and vocational functioning, and personality growth. Counseling Advice or guidance, especially as solicited from a knowledgeable person.
“Psychotherapy” and “counseling” are terms that are often used interchangeably. Although they are very similar, there are some subtle differences as well. In the context of mental health, “counseling” is generally used to denote a relatively brief treatment that is focused most upon behavior. It often targets a particular symptom or problematic situation and offers suggestions and advice for dealing with it. “Psychotherapy” on the other hand is generally a longer term treatment which focuses more on gaining insight into chronic physical and emotional problems. It’s focus is on the patient’s thought processes and way of being in the world rather than specific problems.
The difference lies in the training. Psychotherapists and Counsellors basically aim for the same thing – to enable someone with mental health issues to feel and function better. ‘Counsellors’ on the whole work with immediate ‘here and now’ issues, whereas ‘psychotherapists’ are usually also trained to work at a deeper, more ‘structural’ level of change. Am I ‘nuts’/ ‘a fruit cake’/’crazy’ to be needing therapy? Many people have a deep-seated fear of ‘mental illness’, or of being ‘abnormal’. The truth is that ‘normality’ covers a wide spectrum of presentations. Statistically speaking, more than one in four of us will suffer ‘mental illness’ at some point in our lives. So, in as much as one can regard physical illness as a ‘normal’ part of life, mental illness too can be said to be ‘normal’! What is ‘Mental Illness’? There are a few people who are genetically predisposed to mental disorders like schizophrenia, bi-polar disorder or severe/ ‘clinical’ depression. These illnesses are medica
