What is the difference between Counselling and Psychotherapy?

These two terms are often used interchangeably but in reality their individual meanings do differ. Anyone can counsel by offering advice to improve someone's personal situation or habits. At one time in your life, most likely many instances you have been a counsellor to a loved one, a friend or a college. On a more professional level Doctors, therapist and teachers counsel their patients and students in ways that they believe will improve their life. Now, people who go by the title of "Counsellor" may have training and may not but will apply their life experiences and knowledge to help others with physical and emotional ailments. Often Counselling is for a short period of time. The counsellor's goal is to help their patients accept their habits or actions that are impeding them and talk about preventative action.

The main difference between Counseling and Psychotherapy is the approach. Counseling helps create a solution to a problem where as a Psychotherapist will try to determine why there is a problem to solve in the first place, this is achieved through an analytical lens. Because the world of Psychotherapy is an analytical world, people will see a therapist for a long time, possibly years. The therapy takes so long because of a couple of factors: first, it takes time to produce enough personal history for the therapist to know their patient and determine the best ways to work with them. Also, sensitive issues may arise as a person ventures into discovering the underlings of their actions and time often is needed to accept certain truths.

Why see a Counselor or Psychotherapist?

There are many benefits for seeking help from either a counselor or a psychotherapist. Perhaps you are dealing with personal insecurities, relationship problems, stress that consumes and drains, anxiety, phobias, inappropriate habits, chronic and acute injures, basically anything.

How to a Therapist in either Counseling or Psychotherapy

Although Counseling and Psychotherapy are different there is a lot of overlap in the work industry. It is important that you have clear objectives as this will help determine what type of help you need. Determine whether you want a solution or if you want to reprogram physical and emotional habitual patterns.

Psychotherapy Training

In the realm of Psychotherapy training is a must! Training is most often gained from Universities and Colleges. There are courses available through the internet but the more interaction you can get with professors and classmates the richer your learning potential. Most courses last four years. The best programs tightly integrate clinical and didactic experiences with classroom learning. Find a course that will arm you with an understanding of basic and sophisticated psychotherapeutic approaches.