FAQs for psychotherapy and counselling
What is the difference between 'Psycotherapy' and 'Counselling'?
The difference lies in the training. Psychotherapists and Counsellors basically aim for the same thing - to enable someone with mental health issues to feel and function better. 'Counsellors' on the whole work with immediate 'here and now' issues, whereas 'psychotherapists' are usually also trained to work at a deeper, more 'structural' level of change.
Am I 'nuts'/ 'a fruit cake'/'crazy' to be needing therapy?
Many people have a deep-seated fear of 'mental illness', or of being 'abnormal'. The truth is that 'normality' covers a wide spectrum of presentations. Statistically speaking, more than one in four of us will suffer 'mental illness' at some point in our lives. So, in as much as one can regard physical illness as a 'normal' part of life, mental illness too can be said to be 'normal'!
What is 'Mental Illness'?
There are a few people who are genetically predisposed to mental disorders like schizophrenia, bi-polar disorder or severe/ 'clinical' depression. These illnesses are medically contained through medication. For the vast majority of us, mental illness occurs as the cumulative effect of early relationship failures (which can leave us psychically and emotionally vulnerable), traumatic life experiences and stress. Certainly, inherited pre-dispositions to illness can be aggravated by social and environmental stress.
So how will therapy help me?
It is still true that 'a problem shared is a problem halved', but many of us are reluctant to 'burden' our friends and relatives with our problems. Therapy gives us a chance to reflect on and reassess our lives, to 'talk out' our problems and in the light of new insights, decide on what changes we may want to make.
Does it matter what type of therapist I go to?
Research shows that it is not the theoretical orientation of the therapist, so much as the warmth and the quality of the patient-therapist relationship that makes the biggest difference to patient and therapy outcome. So my advice would be to not get too 'hung up' about the kind of therapy: find a therapist you like and can personally relate with!
How can I tell if I need psychotherapy or counselling?
Helpful self-questions might be: 'Am I feeling tired, weepy, depressed, bad-tempered, apathetic, anxious or jittery? Am I 'obsessional' about things? Am I feeling demotivated, both at work and in my social life? Do I have trouble sleeping, eating (too much, or too little), caring for myself, and/or connecting with people? Do I feel ill, even though the doctors can't find anything wrong with me? Do I often imagine the worst-case scenario in stressful situations? Do I stop myself from being with others, and/or doing what I would dearly love to do out of fear? Am I having problems with my relationships? Do I lack confidence in social and work situations?'
If the answer is 'yes' to more than a few of the above questions, counselling or psychotherapy may indeed be helpful.
What is 'life-coaching'?
This may be the answer for people who do not have major 'problems' as such, but yet feel they need a bit of help to make the most out of their lives.