Understanding the distinction between counseling and psychotherapy is essential if you are considering starting some kind of therapy. Admitting that you require assistance can be a challenging step to take. Once you have decided to seek aid, it is vital to ensure that you receive the appropriate help.
There are both common grounds and unique distinctions between counseling and psychotherapy. Here we will look at points to help you choose the most suitable type of therapy for you considering the various styles and levels of training of therapists.
What is counseling?
Counseling is when a mental health professional or clinical mental health counselor addresses an issue with you over a certain period.
You may seek counseling if you need help to improve your relationship with your partner or assistance with how to handle stress, for example. Counseling typically focuses on a particular problem over a short period.
Do you wish to know more about counseling? If so, St. Bonaventure University offers the SBU online master’s degree in mental health counseling that gives an overview of the approaches typically employed in teaching, counseling, and leadership in education. The program equips you with the necessary skills to become a licensed counselor, ensuring you will be ready to tackle the professional counselor exam with confidence.
What is therapy?
Therapy is a treatment that focuses more on the individual, considering how one perceives themselves, their thoughts, and their behaviors, as well as the root cause that drives those behaviors. It is a longer-term process that can help to identify and address any underlying issues.
If you are experiencing depression, you and your mental health therapist can work together to understand how your depression affects your life and create strategies to help you manage it and improve your well-being. You typically attend therapy sessions over an extended time.
How long do counseling and psychotherapy last?
Counseling typically involves a short-term commitment, while psychotherapy may involve a longer-term commitment that could last several months or years. Counseling usually tackles problems now, while psychotherapy also addresses issues from the past.
Psychotherapy is a deep exploration and transformation process that can lead to profound changes in a person’s personality or psyche. One can compare counseling to the renovation of a house. It helps to strengthen and support existing personality structures while providing opportunities for growth and change.
Counseling may involve changing the environment, such as painting, redecorating, or buying new furniture. Psychotherapy may involve more extensive renovations, like adding an extension or converting the loft or basement.
Most common approaches of a counselor and a therapist
Here are the differences between counselor and therapist approaches and techniques:
Interpersonal counseling
Interpersonal counseling is a treatment-oriented approach that views the client’s disorder as a medical illness that needs addressing and resolution. In this context, the client is not responsible for any mistakes or shortcomings.
Additionally, the counselor focuses on the impact of relationships and attachment on mental well-being. Interpersonal counseling is a short-term approach that helps clients understand how external stressors can contribute to psychological issues while providing support and empathy.
Such therapists guide clients in handling situations in a way that increases their confidence and reduces their symptoms.
Psychodynamic counseling
Psychodynamic counseling is the most well-known counseling approach. It involves building strong therapist–client alliances.
The objective is to help clients acquire the psychological resources necessary to manage difficult emotions and circumstances. As a psychodynamic counselor, an individual may seek to create an empathic relationship with clients in which the counselor uses their personal experience to connect with the clients.
The main focus here is on the influence of early experiences on adult development. Interventions consist of supporting and understanding the whole time rather than analyzing every emotion in the session.
Humanistic/client-centered counseling
Humanistic counseling assumes that individuals possess an innate capacity for growth and development and thus have the potential to thrive. This strategy fosters curiosity, insight, inventiveness, modesty, sympathy, and selflessness.
Client-centered therapy creates an atmosphere of acceptance and understanding in which the therapist is understanding and non-judgmental. It fosters a sense of security and a positive attitude in the client, allowing them to feel accepted and respected without fear of criticism.
In a client-centered approach, the therapist provides an accepting, supportive environment in which the client explores and makes discoveries. It enables clients to take an active role in their therapy, allowing them to become more self-aware and empowered.
By enabling the client to lead their journey, the therapist can provide a more meaningful experience and help them reach their desired outcomes.
Existential therapy
Existential therapy does not aim to heal a person or reduce specific symptoms; instead, it strives to investigate and challenge facets of the human condition. The client is constantly evolving and in a perpetual state of development.
Existential therapists ask their clients to investigate the significance of being alive. They collaborate with the client to evaluate unsatisfied requirements and possibilities and how to make wise decisions.
Existential therapy can effectively reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression in the short term.
Cognitive-behavioral therapy
CBT is a form of psychotherapy that focuses on the connection between thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. It aims to identify and change unhelpful or inaccurate thinking patterns and replace them with more realistic and positive ones.
Cognitive-behavioral therapy seeks to modify behaviors and reactions using cognitive strategies and behavioral techniques. It focuses on how we think and act and influences our emotions in particular situations.
The CBT model has become so popular that it is now used in various contexts with people from different backgrounds and cultures.
Rational-emotive therapy
This behavioral therapy focuses on identifying and correcting irrational or faulty thinking that leads to emotional distress. The therapist and client collaborate to analyze the thought processes surrounding how a situation may have resulted in a particular outcome.
Treatment focuses on the client’s perception of a situation, not the situation itself. In contrast to client-centered therapy, rational-emotive therapy is proactive and directive, aiming to help clients prevent self-destructive beliefs and consequently feel more optimistic.
Differences between a counselor and a therapist
The distinction between psychologists, counselors, and therapists lies in their competencies. Here are some of the main ones:
Skill sets
Therapists and counselors must have exceptional communication, listening, and interaction abilities. Counselors support individuals or groups by utilizing various approaches to create meaningful connections with their patients.
Therapists undergo training to build a rapport with their clients and specialize in certain types of therapy, such as marriage or family therapy, to assist people in overcoming their challenges.
Therapists may also develop their theories of counseling through research and personal practice. They can specialize in educating their clients about their needs, strengths, and weaknesses.
Patient care
Counselors typically offer advice to their clients. The range of counseling services is broad and the methods patients vary, but they generally remain within the scope of their expertise.
To legally practice, therapists must obtain a license, limiting the types of patients they can see to those within their area of expertise. Many therapists employ a particular approach to treatment, for example, cognitive-behavioral therapy, which enables clients to substitute their pessimistic views with more optimistic ones.
Other clinical models that are often employed include psychoanalytic, attachment-based, family dynamics, and Internal Family Systems (IFS).
Requirements and certifications
Therapists must have licenses to practice, with a few exceptions. Counselors may also need to have a license to provide services.
Many professionals obtain a bachelor’s degree and fulfill supervised experience requirements to become licensed by state agencies or certified by national organizations, even if some counselors do not obtain licensure.
To become a therapist, one must obtain a master’s degree in the relevant field, which will then determine the license and certification they need to pursue. Therapists gain experience through internships and residencies that have supervision.
Types of issues addressed
The kinds of issues that counselors and therapists tackle may vary. Counseling can provide support and guidance when dealing with everyday life events. These events are like the death of a loved one, the dissolution of a relationship or marriage, the end of a job, the aftermath of a traumatic experience, and other similar issues.
In contrast, therapists tend to focus on different topics. Most people who seek psychotherapy are usually dealing with clinical depression, bipolar disorder, or another form of mental illness, which often necessitate extended and more intense treatment.
Supervision
Supervision is the process of being under the direct or indirect supervision of someone more experienced, qualified, or in a superior position than oneself. Counselors often have formal training and credentials in counseling psychology.
They are usually involved with helping people find solutions to their problems, individually or within a group setting. Therapists may also be engaged while providing treatment services.
Still, they specialize in psychotherapy instead of counseling psychology, which counselors tend to focus on when it comes to helping people find a solution to their problems.
Therapists are specially trained professionals psychologists and psychiatrists used as part of an integrated management team.
Practice
Counselors work with people through problems that affect their day-to-day lives, while therapists may deal more with more profound issues, such as trauma or mental illness.
Counselors focus more on how to solve a problem than why someone has it in the first place whereas a therapist might work to solve your problem but dig deeper as to where it came from and if anything else needs addressing.
Counselors often aren’t licensed by the state, but they are usually trained in psychology. They may work with a counselor-counselor at a local community center, while therapists are likelier to be licensed psychologists.
How does counseling differ from other forms of therapy, such as psychoanalysis or CBT?
Here are some ways counseling differs from other forms of therapy, such as psychoanalysis or CBT:
Counseling tends to focus on problem-solving
Counseling focuses on identifying and addressing problems. As a therapeutic practice, counseling uses a person’s analytical and problem-solving skills to identify the source of personal, social, or occupational difficulties and then works towards developing better-coping mechanisms.
Unlike psychoanalysis or cognitive-behavioral therapy, counseling focuses on identifying and addressing problem-solving instead of exploring how past events have shaped an individual’s relationships with their mind or body.
Although counseling may focus on repetitive patterns, such as anxiety or depression, it focuses on exploring the source of harmful or unwanted thoughts. It also identifies ways to improve behavior and emotional well-being. Because of this, psychodynamic therapies are not considered counseling.
Counseling is more directive
Counselors are more likely to provide direction and tasks for their clients and are less likely to explore deeper into the specific roots than psychoanalysts or CBT therapists. However, confidentiality is essential to all three methods, allowing patients to discuss anything with their providers without fear of prejudice.
Psychoanalysts help clients tap into their unconscious mind to recover repressed emotions and deep-rooted traumas; allowing patients to gain a better understanding of their subconscious mind to change negative thoughts and behaviours. CBT therapists teach patients coping skills for dealing with different problems. It focuses on how your thoughts, beliefs and attitudes affect your feelings and actions. Counseling is generally less directive, so it’s not considered part of a therapeutic relationship.
Counseling is more focused on the present
Counseling is focused on the present and addressing current issues to understand the past and deal with the future, relearning how to deal with difficulties in life. The methods used in counseling greatly vary from one therapist to another, as with any therapy.
Psychoanalysis, CBT, and many other therapies focus on past experiences, with the therapist evaluating and telling the patient what to expect and do. Counseling, however, is more focused on the present and helping the person to overcome and deal with the issues they face daily.
Counseling is more client-centered
Counselors are more likely to take a client-centered therapy approach than other therapists. This counseling is different from other forms of therapy that most psychologists provide clients. Counseling can offer a non-directive approach to therapy.
Counselors may not provide a direct route to change but instead try and support the clients to keep helping themselves. They may offer to work on a different theory, not just a client’s problems.
Counselors may support clients’ search for their truth. It is different from most psychologists who try to provide a fixed way to solve a client’s problems.
Counseling is more practical
Counseling is often more practical than other forms of therapy, such as psychoanalysis or
cognitive-behavioral therapy. It also addresses the underlying cause of a problem rather than treating the symptoms that come from it.
Counseling is not meant to be used forever and can instead focus on how to make progress with specific problems. However, unlike other forms of therapy, there are no specific times for sessions with the therapist in counseling.
Instead, counseling allows for a flexible schedule that meets you where you are now.
The counselor’s role is to be supportive and understanding. They should not force their way of doing things on clients but respond to every question and issue that comes up during counseling. In addition, counselors need to listen attentively to what clients say and avoid suggesting what type of behavior they should adopt during counseling.
Counseling is less intensive
Psychotherapy and counseling allow individuals to process their thoughts and emotions in a therapeutic setting.
However, counseling is not focused solely on the past but works to improve functioning in present-day situations. Counseling helps people adapt better in society by addressing communication skills, managing frustration and anger, building self-esteem, developing healthy relationships with others, and defining their values.
Counseling is less expensive
Counseling is often less expensive than other types of therapy, making it unique because it is a client-centered process. It does not target specific symptoms but focuses on the person’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.
Counseling therapists typically work towards the goals that clients have set for themselves. They do not try to help them tailor their methods to be self-reliant when they are no longer working with their therapist.
Final thoughts
Psychotherapy and counseling are resources that help individuals cope with personal issues and enhance their quality of life, but they employ different techniques and have distinct purposes.
Counseling typically addresses life struggles shorter-term, while therapy is more apt to treat mental health disorders and provide ongoing support.
The essential factor that leads to the success of counseling or therapy is the relationship between the patient and the mental health professional.