14 Dec The difference between psychotherapy and counselling

People often ask what the difference is between psychotherapy and counselling. Both are ‘therapists’ so what does this mean and what is therapy? A quick word from the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy:

Therapy is time set aside by you and the therapist to look at what has brought you to therapy. This might include talking about life events, feelings, emotions, relationships, ways of thinking and patterns of behaviour. The therapist will do their best to help you to look at your issues, and to identify the right course of action for you, either to help you resolve your difficulties or help you find ways of coping

Ultimately psychotherapists and counsellors share many similarities in how we work such as:

• Listening to how you feel and and problems which you might be facing
• Providing a safe and confidential place to talk
• A non-judgemental approach – accepting you the way you are
• Helping you to make changes to your life
• Understand that sometimes it can be hard to talk about emotions

However, psychotherapy is subtly different. Traditionally, counsellors tend to work in less depth and within a shorter time-frame than psychotherapists. As a psychotherapist I tend to spend more time looking at the underlying causes of your feelings rather than just what is ‘on the surface’.

This is with the aim of finding a longer term and more satisfying solution, and helping you to understand why you might be experiencing certain thoughts or emotions in your life.

As such, the training process for psychotherapists is longer and more in-depth than for counsellors. Often 7 years or more rather than the 3 years or so for a counsellor.