The difference between Psychotherapy and Counselling

Counselling is generally short-term and is focused on how you are in the present. It may be about a specific issue, or it may be about relief from particular symptoms, such as worry. Counselling typically deals with present issues that are easily resolved on the conscious level and I typically use questioning to help you find your answers. To relieve symptoms I might encourage you to practise some skills which can be useful in overcoming anxiety or depression. In other words, counselling is more concerned with practical or immediate issues and outcomes.

Psychotherapy is usually longer term, is an evolutionary process that helps a person look at long-standing attitudes, thoughts, and behaviours that have resulted in the current quality of one’s life and relationships. We would typically explore the past, and understand your current difficulties in relation to your experiences as a child. The work is usually deeper, more intense, and the change you experience is more fundamental and long lasting. It goes much deeper to uncover root causes of problems, resulting in more dramatic changes in perspective regarding oneself, one’s life experience, and the world in general. Ultimately, psychotherapy aims to empower the individual by freeing him/her from the grip of unconscious triggers or impulses through increased self-awareness