All practitioners work with clients who seek relief from psychological or physical symptoms. The most important point in common with all counsellors, psychotherapists and psychologists, is that the client generally wants emotional healing and relief from psychological pain.
To achieve this, all therapists use a single or variety of therapeutic modalities/tools, which are all types of talking therapies and can work exclusively or supported by medication. None of these practitioners can prescribe medication but may work with a medical doctor or psychiatrist for medication support.
In some countries like the United States there is a definite difference between counselling, psychotherapy, psychology, and clinical psychology, and all are referred to as therapists. However, in countries like New Zealand, Australia, the United Kingdom, the terms therapy, counselling, psychotherapy, psychologist and clinical psychologist are often used interchangeably. Though they have similar meanings with considerable overlap. But there can be important distinctions between them that are helpful to keep in mind when looking for a mental health care provider for you. What often defines the difference between practices is methodology, and level of training.
Be mindful that even between practitioners there will be differences in opinion to what their title encompasses. The most important thing is the relationship. If you don’t think the practitioner you are working with can help you, then work hard to find someone who can. You don’t have to like them but feel you can collaborate to achieve your desired outcome.’
It is recommended that you ensure your practitioner is a current member of an organisational body that provides oversight, acquires continuing professional development (training), and regular supervision with a qualified supervisor.
Coaching
A general characteristic of coaching is that it sets out to empower a client to achieve their own goals. As opposed to counselling, coaching is generally meant to help clients who aren’t experiencing mental health issues. However, some clients may choose a coach as opposed to a mental health practitioner to focus on overcoming issues.
Coaching focuses on helping clients to utilise their abilities more effectively than they have previously. Advertising jargon would call this “achieving your full potential.” It is a partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential.
Coaching has been defined in many ways. The essence of coaching is:
To help a person change in the way they wish, helping them go in the direction they want to go.
Coaching supports a person at every level in becoming the goal they strive for.
Coaching builds awareness, empowers choice and can lead to change.
It unlocks a person’s potential to maximise their performance.
Coaching has traditionally been associated with sports. Every top athlete or team has a coach. More recently however, coaching has become applicable in many areas, including all aspect of life, work, sport and more. It is now quite normal for someone to see a coach to help them achieve their goals in their life and work.
Coaching empowers a client to achieve their personal best and to produce the results they want in their personal and professional lives. It helps to ensure the client can give their best, learn and develop in the way they wish. A coach need not be an expert in their clients’ field of work.
Counselling
When most people think about mental health they think of counselling. Counselling is a broadly used term that has become synonymous with mental health treatment. However, when a mental health professional is talking about counselling, they are usually referring to a practice based on a specific or combined use of counselling theories that underpins their counselling practice.
“Professional counselling is a professional relationship that empowers diverse individuals, families, and groups to accomplish mental health, wellness, education, and career goals”.
Broadly speaking, counselling focuses on treating unwanted or distressing emotional, behavioural and in some case physical challenges and difficulties. These may impact the client (or clients) on a personal, relational or/and social level. Through a collaborative effort, the counselor works with the client to identify goals and potential solutions to problems. They may help them to improve communication and coping skills; strengthen self-esteem; promote behavior change and optimal mental health.
Counselling is often goal driven, focusing on helping clients with what they are experiencing now. This may sometimes be related to past events, or present situations. The goal for example, might be to understand what happened in the past, or what is going on for them now, then develop mechanisms to manage in the present and into the future.
Professional counselling is NOT giving advice; being judgmental; attempting to sort out the problems of the client as the counsellor determines them. A counsellor should allow the client to remain autonomous, not exerting their own opinions and ways of coping. They should not get emotionally involved with their clients or look to ‘solve’ problems from their own perspective, based on their own value systems.
Counselling empowers the client to develop resources and strategies that enable them to work towards their chosen goals.
How long does counseling take?
Ideally, counseling is terminated when the problem becomes more manageable or is resolved. Therefore, counselling may be shorter term than say psychotherapy. Sometimes however when working through one issue, another may arise. The client may decide if they wish to explore these developments, and so counselling goals may change, or they may wish to revisit these in future. Or if the client has experienced for example trauma, and is suffering side effects such as PTSDand other related conditions, counselling may last two to three years.
Methodology
The aim of a professional and well-trained counsellor is to empower the client to focus on feelings, experiences or behaviour in order to facilitate positive change.
Counselling may be goal focused and shorter-term.
The counsellor might work using one specific therapeutic approach or may use a variety of resources to support their client to reach their set goals. (A client should feel empowered to ask what a counsellor’s therapeutic approach is, and why they are using it if they so wish).
They may help clients to see things more clearly, possibly from a different view-point.
Clients are more likely to focus on issues affecting them in the present whether related to past experiences or current situations.
When the client’s goals are reached, the counsellor and client may agree to terminate counselling. The client may return in future if they require further support relating to goals worked on, or new issues.
Psychotherapy
Psychotherapy commonly refers to psychological therapies that are based on the psychodynamic theories of human behaviour and personality. These theories emphasise the importance of unconscious mental processes, early childhood experiences, and the role of emotions in shaping behaviour.
Like counselling and clinical psychology, psychotherapy describes different talking therapies where you share what is troubling you. You are listened to and supported in finding ways forward. While other approaches might have you asking, what can I do and change to feel better, psychotherapy might also find you asking, who am I? How did I become this person? And who do I really want to be, deep down?
Whist attending to a person’s immediate symptoms, Psychotherapy concentrates on understanding behavior to effect change. There is greater focus on the underlying aspects of somebody’s character structure. Instead of narrowing in on individual problems, psychotherapy considers overall patterns, chronic issues, and recurrent feelings. It looks at your behavioural patterns that are causing distress in your life, often focusing on understanding where behaviours originated. In other words, what is it about your psychological makeup that might influence the situations you find yourself in today?
Psychotherapy requires an openness to exploring the past and its impact on the present.
Methodology
The aim of psychotherapy is to resolve the underlying issues which fuel ongoing complaints.
Psychotherapy works to help you have a deep understanding of your emotions through looking at your past.
It helps to resolve past experiences as part of laying the foundation for a satisfying future.
Psychotherapy questions how what you experienced as a child and young adult affected you in ways that might still be causing you issues now.
Some sorts of psychotherapy dive very deeply into these explorations of self, looking at questions of identity and beliefs in order to find the very roots and beginnings of your issues and challenges. Not just how to manage them now.
Psychotherapy tends to be long-term, which can mean anything from six months to several plus years. It involves seeing a trained professional once, sometimes twice a week for usually one hour.
Longer term psychotherapy is often past or childhood trauma or difficulties that cause present day problems
Psychology / Counselling Psychology
Psychology is the scientific study of the mind and behavior. It is a multifaceted discipline and includes many sub-fields of study such areas as human development, sports, health, clinical, social behavior and cognitive processes. Psychologists attempt to understand the mechanical function of the human brain and mind – how they respond, can be improved and maintain stability. They study concepts such as human perception, emotion, personality, behavior, relationships, attention, motivation, cognition and so on.
There are different areas of psychology in which it is possible to practice and gain the title of psychologist. This title is the benchmark of professional recognition and reflecting an in-depth understanding of psychological knowledge and expertise. The main branches of psychology are:
Clinical Psychology
Counselling Psychology
Educational Psychology
Forensic Psychology
Health Psychology
Occupational Psychology
Teaching and Research psychology
However, hundreds of thousands of people across the globe look to psychologists for their mental and emotional problems. Most often when you see a ‘psychologist’, that practitioner is a Counselling or Clinical Psychologist.
Counselling psychologists integrate psychological theory and research with therapeutic practice. They work closely with clients to look at mental health issues and explore the underlying problems that may have caused them. Their work with individuals is often collaborative, empowering the client to make decisions for themselves to improve their sense of personal wellbeing. They work across a range of human problems including bereavement, relationships, mental health issues and other significant life events.
Their approach to therapies may be more like that of a counsellor or psychotherapist. However, treatment may often guided by though not thoroughly dictated by the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders), which lays out specific pathways based on scientific research to improve mental health outcomes for their clients.
Clinical Psychology
In simple terms, the application of the principles and concepts of psychology is known as clinical psychology. Clinical Psychologists use scientific methods and principles of psychology to guide and treat those suffering from psychological issues or problems. They have the experience and background to conduct psychological testing, research, consultation and treatment.
The objective of most clinical psychologists is to assess an individual for a mental health disorder or disorders, and determine a course of action or treatment to improve the mental well-being of their clients. They most often handle more serious cases of mental health like schizophrenia, personality, etc. and their treatment plans are often based on scientific methods, which might be strictly guided by the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders).
As clinical psychology takes a more medical approach to working with clients, they are often referred to instead as patients. However, clinical psychologists do not currently prescribe drugs (accept for some states in the U.S), though most will have a good understanding of relevant medicines. They may work closely with a team of providers. These may include a psychiatrist or doctor who is able to prescribe medication to support their patient’s mental health requirements. Also, with other therapists such as counseling psychologists, psychotherapists or counsellors for therapeutic support. Or with social workers for support in their extended life, and so on
What is the difference between Clinical Psychology and Counseling Psychology?
Clinical psychology is involved with serious cases like psychotic disorders and deals with mentally ill populations while counseling psychology is involved with personality issues and less severe mental conditions and deals with relatively healthy populations.
Clinical psychology involves medical assessments, diagnoses, medical treatments, prescription of drugs etc. while counseling psychology involves advice, discussion sessions, exercises and even training.
Clinical psychology applications are carried out by highly qualified psychiatrists and doctors while counseling psychology applications are carried out by trained counselors.
Clinical psychology has a close connection with the field of medicine while counseling psychology has a close connection with sociology and humanities.
Clinical psychology focuses on cure while counseling psychology focuses on preventive action.
Psychiatry
Psychiatry is a medical specialty, in the same way that cardiology, paediatrics, and orthopaedic surgery are medical specialties. Psychiatry is the medical specialty that deals specifically with neurological and mental illness. Like other specialists, psychiatrists undertake a basic medical degree and then complete advanced training in their particular area of specialty.
The major difference in the training of psychiatrists and clinical psychologists centres on the use of medication for treatment. Because psychiatrists are medical practitioners they are able to prescribe medications, which clinical psychologists are not.
Some psychiatrists have a strong interest in psychological therapy and may have given much emphasis to this in their training and practice. However, it is probably true in general that psychiatrists have particular strengths in understanding the biological processes associated with mental health problems and the use of medication as a treatment.
In practice, psychiatrists and clinical psychologists often work in similar ways with similar clients, and often work together.