Understanding Therapy

Unless you have graduated from university with a degree in one of the helping professions there is a chance that you will have a confusion as to what therapy is. And, because of the diversity of the subject of therapy, even qualified practitioners are unaware of what their colleagues are doing.

To add to the confusion the word ‘therapy’ has become so generic we need clarification as to what therapy is being referred to. Generally though, when we refer to therapy without specifying what therapy e.g. electrotherapy, people mean Psychotherapy

In the past a negative label was put on anyone receiving therapy. “There’s something wrong with you if you have therapy” was the usual response. Or “There’s something wrong with you if you can’t sort out your own life.” Being labelled a ‘patient’ helped to cement in this idea, adding to the idea that there was something wrong with you if you saw a therapist.

While some people have serious psychoses or neuroses problems, more and more people are seeking the help of specialized therapists in order to become more aware and capable after they have handled their immediate ‘issues’.

Unfortunately there are still many therapists who consider that their work is done when they have returned you to your ‘normal’ way of being simply because they are unaware of a ‘higher’ side of us and how to get us there.

The good news is that there are a growing number of therapists who have developed their skills not only to fix what you wanted handled but to help you discover what you are truly capable of.

Hopefully over the next few years the general concept of therapy will change so that it will be considered that there is something wrong with us if we don’t seek therapy. After all who really wants to be ‘normal’, as opposed to discovering our wonderful latent talents that lie buried within all of us?

To find these talents though we usually first have to iron out any unwanted wrinkles that life may have imposed upon us!

The difference between Therapy, Counselling, Processing and Life coaching

Psychotherapy

Many people have no idea what therapy is – they confuse it with counselling, thinking they are one and the same. To add to the confusion some therapists call themselves therapists when they are counsellors and vice – versa. So what is the difference? Very simply, when we embark on therapy we are looking at issues that haven’t just ’sprung up’ because of loss or bereavement, but have been with us for as long as we can remember, such as being overly egotistical or needy.  This entails spending at least one hour a week with a therapist for quite a long period of time to help us unravel our past and help us grow. There are also different types of therapy from different schools of thought – some good and some not so good.

Counselling

Counselling on the other hand introduces techniques that can usually help someone with a pressing issue, such as a shock or loss or bereavement that constantly fixates their attention.

This type of counselling is done intensively, maybe 10 to 20 hours in 3 – 5 days. It works best when we have been stuck in something heavy for some time and just can’t seem to pull ourselves out of it. But it doesn’t handle the basic underlying cause why we reacted so adversely to the situation. For example: We are devastated because our boyfriend/girlfriend has left us for someone else. We go to counselling to handle the feelings of loss, neediness and abandonment and bounce back again ready for the next romance. Or we just find someone to replace the old lover. The same thing happens again and we, again, seek our counsellor for a ‘fix’, never addressing the underlying cause of the feelings of loss, neediness and abandonment that usually stem from events in our infanthood. For this we need therapy as it usually takes a long time to find the underlying cause

Whatever we choose – a therapy route or a counselling route – the speed of just how quickly one deals with one’s issues depends on the shape of the person wanting the therapy. If we have seen life as a glass that is half empty as opposed to a glass that is half full it is possible that gains may come a little slower. And even here there is no hard and fast rule. If you have seen life as a glass that is half full but are experiencing only a temporary bad patch - as most of us do from time to time - its quite possible that it will be resolved quite quickly. In such cases the therapist may use counselling tools to help or will send you to a counsellor. All going well you should be back to your old self, bright eyed and bushy tailed!

Psychologists

Confusion again! There are many types of psychologists, all coming out of university with different labels. There are Behavioural psychologists, Industrial psychologists, Counselling psychologists, to name but a few.

Psychologists are not necessarily therapists as they may, in their studies, have concentrated more on diagnosis and may choose to evaluate what they feel is wrong with you rather than go through the lengthy process of therapy.  This may either resolve or – should the evaluation be wrong – complicate the problem.

Life Coaching.

Life Coaching is also becoming popular and is useful when we just can’t seem to see the wood for the trees.  Good coaches are able to steer you into areas of your life that refuse to work out and by using a series of questions allow you to spot where you are going wrong.

Processing.

Because counselling uses techniques or processes, some schools of thought use the term processing to describe the one on one work that takes place between a counsellor and a client.

whatmakesyoutick.com and pauldrayton.com encompass all of the above to suit the particular issues the client feels they need to address

By Colin Mills