Psychotherapy

What is Counselling / Psychotherapy?

Counselling and psychotherapy, although two completely different terms, are both essentially the same thing. Both counsellors and psychotherapists provide a service for people who are looking for support and treatment for a wide range of mental health and emotional issues. The possibility that there is a difference between the two is a heavily debated question in the field of mental health treatment, and one that has yet to be answered. Some experts claim that counselling tends to tackle problems at the time of the crises, whereas psychotherapy focuses on long-term, deeply embedded psychological problems. However, this is not a universally agreed contention and you are advised to contact professionals personally to find out more about how they work.

Whether you choose a counsellor or psychotherapist, the main thing is to choose the right individual. How you connect with the counsellor or psychotherapist you choose is likely to determine how successful the treatment is. It is also helpful to have a little knowledge on the different therapies on offer. There are many different therapies that can be used by counsellors and psychotherapists, some involve looking at past relationships and experiences to make sense of them, and others involve looking at the ‘here and now’.

What are the different therapies used?

Psychological therapies generally fall into three categories. These are behavioural therapies, which focus on cognitions and behaviours, psychoanalytical and psychodynamic therapies, which focus on the unconscious relationship patterns that evolved from childhood, and humanistic therapies, which focus on looking at the ‘here and now’. This is a generalisation though and counselling and psychotherapy usually overlaps some of these techniques.

Our Practitioners:

Anna Storey