Below are short descriptions of my areas of expertise:

Psychotherapy for Individuals
Marriage and Couples’ Counselling
Health Counselling

Counselling vs Psychotherapy

 

Definitions

 

Counseling is considered an exchange of opinions and ideas to effectively problem solve an individual’s daily living issues associated with his or her emotional, cognitive, or behavioral problems. Psychotherapy is a form of treatment for emotional problems in which a therapist establishes a relationship with an individual for the purpose of modifying self-defeating patterns of behavior and promoting positive personality growth and development. Psychotherapy is generally undertaken to gain self-knowledge. Most people come to therapy because defenses which have served them in the past are no longer working or useful.

 

Counseling can be described as a face to face relationship, having goals to help a client to learn or acquire new skills which will enable them to cope and adjust to life situations. The focus is to help a person reach maximum fulfillment or potential, and to become fully functioning as a person. Psychotherapy is the process in which a therapist assists the client in re-organizing his or her personality. The therapist also helps the client integrate insights into everyday behavior. Psychotherapy can be defined as more inclusive re-education of the individual.

 

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 focuses on the patient's thought processes and way of being in the world rather than specific problems.

Objective

 

The objective of counseling is to help individuals toward overcoming obstacles to their personal growth, wherever these may be encountered, and toward achieving optimum development of their personal resources.

 

In a paper written by Dr. T. Millard, it is stated that Counseling provides clarity and a positive and constructive venue for the individual to sensibly examine the instinctive-emotional and rational (or irrational) motives which determine the drive, content, and even the form of human conduct. This shows the part which counseling plays in a client’s treatment.

 

The goal of psychotherapy is to become a person who appreciates himself or herself and others as persons rather than things and who has turned his self defeating manipulations into self fulfilling potentials.

 

Similarities in counseling and psychotherapy

 

First, each of these is similar in the sense that each client brings with them the assets, skills, strengths and possibilities needed with them to therapy.

 

Secondly, counseling and psychotherapy are similar in the way that they both use an eclectic approach. The counselors and therapists do not have only one technique, they borrow from all different techniques.

 

Donald Arbuckle argues that counseling and psychotherapy are in all essential respects identical (1967, p.144) He states that the nature of the relationship, which is considered basic in counseling and psychotherapy, are identical. Secondly, Arbuckle says that the process of counseling cannot be distinguished from the process of psychotherapy. Third of all he feels that the methods or techniques are identical. Arbuckle lastly states in the matter of goals and or outcomes there may appear to be differences but no distinction is possible.

 

One major similarity between counseling and psychotherapy are the elements which build a person's personality. Each of these processes deal with attitudes, feelings, interests, goals, self esteem and related behaviors are all which are affected through counseling and psychotherapy.

 

Differences between counseling and psychotherapy

 

While there are clearly many similarities between the counseling approach and psychotherapy, there are some differences between the two.

 

One of the major distinctions between counseling and psychotherapy is the focus. In counseling, the counselor will focus on the here and now, reality situations. During psychotherapy, the therapist is looking into the unconscious or past. A psychotherapist is looking for a connection of past to deal with problems which are now present in the real world.

 

Counseling and psychotherapy also differentiate when it comes to the level of adjustment or maladjustment of the client. Counseling holds an emphasis on ‘normal’. One could classify ‘normal’ as those without neurotic problems but those who have become victims of pressures from outside environment. The emphasis in psychotherapy however is on neurotics or other severe emotional problems.

 

Counseling can also be described as problem solving where in psychotherapy it is more analytical. In counseling a client may have a situation where they do not have any idea how to handle it. There are two types of problems, solvable and unsolvable. If the problem is a solvable one, a therapist may help that client by looking at the problem with them and helping the client draw out solutions. When thinking of solutions one must also think of the consequences. While counseling deals with problem solving, psychotherapy on the other hand deals with the analytical view. Here the therapist would determine the cause of ones behavior from the results of that behavior. An example could be if a spouse was abusing the other spouse it could stem from the abusive spouse's past. The abusive spouse may have been a victim of abuse as a child, abused in a relationship himself or herself, or even have been a witness to abuse. The counselor would analyze each act and try to link it to something in the unconscious past.

 

Length of treatment also differs between counseling and psychotherapy. Counseling is shorter in duration than psychotherapy. The time spent in counseling is determined by goals set by the client and the counselor. Once these goals are met the client should then be able to go back on their own. Psychotherapy tends to last a while longer. Sessions range from two to five years. Psychotherapy is more of a comprehensive re-education of the client. The intensity and length of therapy depends on how well the client can deal with all of the new found information. It could take quite sometime for the client to be able to live with these feelings which originated in past experiences which are usually hurtful ones. A psychotherapist also needs time to modify all existing defenses.

 

The setting of treatment also differs between counseling and psychotherapy. A counseling session usually takes place in a non-medical setting such as an office. Psychotherapy is the term used more in a medical setting such as a clinic or hospital.

 

Resistance is another area of counseling and psychotherapy that tends to differ. Counselors see resistance as something that opposes or goes against problem solving. A counselor tries to reduce this as much as possible. A psychotherapist on the other hand finds resistance to be very important. If the therapist can understand the client’s resistance, he can then understand how to help the client change his or her personality.

 

Professional opinions

 

Not all therapists feel that there is a distinction between counseling and psychotherapy. C.H. Patterson feels that it is impossible to make a distinction. He feels that the definition of counseling equally applies as well to psychotherapy and vice a versa. As noted above, Donald Arbuckle (1967) argues that counseling and psychotherapy are identical in all essential aspects. Others believe that there is a distinction. Psychotherapy is concerned with some type of personality change where counseling is concerned with helping individuals utilize full coping potential. In Donald Arbuckle's work he included Leona Tyler's thoughts on the differences between counseling and psychotherapy. Leona Tyler attempts to differentiate between counseling and psychotherapy by stating, to remove physical and mental handicaps or to rid of limitations is not the job of the counselor, this is the job of the therapist which is aimed essentially at change rather than fulfillment (Arbuckle 1967).

 

Counselor vs. Psychotherapist

A therapist may provide counseling with specific situations and a counselor may function in a psychotherapeutic manner. Generally speaking, however, psychotherapy requires more skill than simple counseling. Professionals trained to practice psychotherapy such as a psychiatrist, a trained counselor, social worker or psychologist conduct it. While a psychotherapist is qualified to provide counseling, a counselor may or may not possess the necessary training and skills to provide psychotherapy.          

Technically, ‘counselor’ means ‘advisor’. It involves two people working together to solve a problem. It is a term that is used in conjunction with many types of advice giving. For example, financial planning and spiritual guidance are both types of counseling. The term counseling may also properly be used to refer to what occurs in a relationship with a psychotherapist.

Summary and Conclusion

 

One can see that there are several differences between counseling and psychotherapy. The biggest difference is the time factor/ focus faced in each of these approaches. Counseling primarily deals with reality situations versus the unconscious past focus of psychotherapy.

 

Secondly counseling has been described as helping one to develop competencies in coping with life situations where as psychotherapy is a re organization of one's whole personality.

 

Finally a last distinction is that the counselor deals with life adjustment problems while the psychotherapist deals with past-unresolved issues from the family of origin.

While there are many distinguishing differences between counseling and psychotherapy, there are some aspects that do spill over into each other. Both can be enriching and help you to deal with your problems and issues in a more effective way. Counseling often focuses on a specific problem or crisis, where as psychotherapy tends to deal with more deep-seated issues perhaps at an unconscious level and arising from your past.

[Please note that counselling and counselling are interchangeable spelling with the same meaning.