This is an ongoing age-old debate. What can I say? Well, I’ll have a go anyway and wait for all the reasons I 
don’t give!!
Counselling
A Counsellor will be supportive but give little or really no direct advice as the work is all about enabling you to develop awareness and insight into the issues you have brought into the session.
Issues
They will be supportive and also challenging of –
- your inability to recognise that you do have transferable skills and qualities – you are simply not using them.
- Or enabling you to be more assertive at home or at work or life in general.
- Or looking at the victim/bully/rescuer triangle.
- Or the blame always being put on the outside world rather than you taking responsibility yourself.
- Or you seeing that your vulnerability can also be a strength.
- Or the losses you are experiencing.
During the sessions, you may also get in touch with deeper feelings which may be blocking you from moving on. You will also gain awareness that you don’t have to be the victim of life. They will enable you to feel more in charge.
Your counsellor will have had training and experience of working with practice clients or their peers during training before they are let loose on the world. And they will require Supervision from a Supervisor all the time they are in practice.
Overlap
Now you will see that there is very much an overlap with psychotherapy as all of the above will be part of their training too.
Difference
A main difference may be that therapy tends to deal with more deep-seated issues from your past and can be longer in terms of time. It also looks at the here and now issues going on in your and the therapist’s relationship.
The Shadow
It can also encourage (as does counselling) you to develop your potential by you getting in touch with the parts of you buried away consciously or unconsciously – the shadow. These discoveries can release many qualities you were afraid to show and can also expand your capacity to appreciate the ups and downs of life i.e. the joys and the painful times.
The exploration enables you to become more aware of your patterns and then you have a choice to do something about them. The use of transference and counter-transference may be used more in psychotherapy.
Parallels
There are so many parallels with psychotherapy and counselling. Some counsellors are also trained and experienced in offering long-term deep exploration. Short and longer term work may be used in both cases.
The main issue for me is that you ensure that you will be able to work with the person you have chosen. The relationship is of utmost importance as is the ability to hold the heights and depths of any issues presented by you.
Good luck.
Clear explanation of a complicated topic, Irene!
Oh, Georgian, thanks for your comment as we know it’s never clear cut and everyone ‘gets their knickers in a twist’ about it!! I’ve just done Blog 28 so 2 more to go and that’s enough of these daily ones!! Thanks again xx
Therapy and counselling can differ in a few ways. Counselling entails more connection between the psychologist and the patient, whilst therapy usually based on procedures. Yet overall, the main purpose here is to help the patient’s recuperation. What matters the most is how skilled and experienced the psychologist be to handle the session.
Thank you for taking the time to comment. I agree with what you say and would add that the relationship is of the utmost importance too xx