What You Need To Know About The Difference Between Counseling And Psychotherapy

When looking for a therapist to work with, it’s helpful to recognize the different vocabulary employed by mental health practitioners, in so far as doing so allows you to develop more educated decisions. One particular question I commonly get concerns the distinction involving “counseling” and “psychotherapy.”

While the words psychotherapy and counseling are frequently employed interchangeably and are based on very similar types of treatments, you can find differences between them that distinguish one from another.

Semantically speaking, a “counselor” is an “advisor,” and counseling defines two individuals working together to resolve a difficulty. This explanation allows counseling a substantially wider use than psychotherapy. Hence, we have guidance counselors, legal counselors, financial counselors, credit counselors, and so forth. Although it often appears just about anyone can refer to themselves as a counselor, licensed mental health providers are the only ones allowed to practice psychotherapy. Having said that, the term counseling can be, and is, used to describe a therapeutic relationship, but the client-therapist relationship goes far beyond the straightforward rendering of professional advice.

In the mental health context, the term counseling is usually used to denote a rather short, solution-focused treatment process. The main focus of counseling is commonly on addressing, and alleviating, a specific symptom or frustrating circumstance as quickly as possible.

For mental health practitioners, counseling has more of an instructional and professional support or advice-giving character. The territory a counselor covers with clients frequently is more specialized, like addiction counseling or guidance counseling.

For example, an addiction counselor may help the client look for a sponsor and join a 12-step program. The primary aim of a counselor’s work with a client is to aid in a client’s recovery. Stress, anxiety, relationship problems, and career difficulties might or might not be dealt with, but they aren’t the primary aim of the work being carried out between the counselor and the client.

Psychotherapy, on the other hand, is more frequently used to denote a longer-term treatment that concentrates on addressing long-held beliefs and behaviors that no longer benefit the client. Though very specific issues are frequently dealt with in psychotherapy, the focus is on the client’s thought processes and relationship with themselves, others, and the world.

Employing the same addiction recovery example, a psychotherapist is more apt to look at the underlying relationships, beliefs, and behaviors that have led the client to substance abuse. Although a psychotherapist may well help a client to find a sponsor and start a 12-step program, the focus of therapy is likely to be more holistic, specifically exploring the client’s relationship dynamics, addiction history in the client’s family of origin, career, various other life stresses, etc., and exactly how these circumstances correspond to the client’s dependence and wishes for recovery.

These distinctions having been made, in actual reality there is quite a bit of overlap in between psychotherapy and counseling. A therapist provides counseling when helping a client overcome a specific dilemma or symptom, and apply psychotherapeutic processes to help the client look at their perceptions of the problem, or assist them in understanding the reasons why various symptoms or issues seem to recur regularly.

It’s common for individuals who consider therapy to do so hoping to deal with a specific dilemma via some kind of solution-focused counseling. But, as one issue after another is solved effectively, a client commonly will proceed with more in-depth psychotherapy to produce the positive, enduring growth they now know is achievable.

Understanding the differences between psychotherapy and counseling ought to at least help in your questions and discussions with potential therapists. When aiming to deal with a particular challenge rather than obtain personal insight, counseling may be most beneficial. If your main ambition is to develop positive, long-lasting change in terms of the way you think and feel, psychotherapy is what you’re seeking.

Both psychotherapy and counseling are helpful, each has their use, and they are definitely not mutually exclusive. Understanding the distinction between them should help you be aware of the terms being employed, and create appropriate expectations when you choose to seek the assistance of a mental health practitioner.

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