Psychotherapy, Psychology and Counselling
Psychotherapists, clinical psychologists, and counsellors work with you to address issues that are negatively affecting your life and your well-being. Psychotherapists and clinical psychologists must register annually under the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003, and usually belong to a professional association that establishes standards and promotes professional development. Counsellors need not register under the Act, but are supported by a similar association, the New Zealand Association of Counsellors (NZAC).
The key differences among them lie in their emphasis. Counsellors and clinical psychologists tend to focus on the thoughts and behaviours that are limiting your life. Most psychotherapists, in contrast, tend to be curious about the underlying feelings that give rise to these thoughts and behaviours and make them so difficult to change. Counsellors and psychologists work with you to replace dysfunctional assumptions and behaviours with more adaptive ways of thinking, acting and relating. Psychotherapists, in addition, encourage a greater awareness of your feelings, which can enable a shift in self-limiting thoughts and behaviours.
Counsellors and clinical psychologists are more likely than psychotherapists to work with you on specific, acute problems that can be addressed in a limited timeframe, often relying on therapeutic approaches developed specifically for identified issues. Psychotherapists often focus on more complex or long-standing issues; the work must therefore be less prescriptive and more open-ended. However, this generalisation is becoming less valid. Some counsellors and psychologists have the training to explore underlying emotional patterns, and will work with clients on issues that take time to resolve; and many psychotherapists offer an alternative way of working that is time-limited because there is an agreed focus on a specific area of the client's life.
In summary, practitioners' titles do not necessarily tell you how they would work with you, but they are all happy to discuss their approach up front. In most cases, there is more than one way to achieve significant improvement in your life and relationships, and most practitioners adapt their way of working to your situation. Key questions to ask yourself as you begin working with a therapist are, "Do I think I could develop trust in this person? Do I get the sense that he or she will focus on what's important to me? Would it be good to have this person at my side, and on my side, as I face the problems that have brought me here?"
The key differences among them lie in their emphasis. Counsellors and clinical psychologists tend to focus on the thoughts and behaviours that are limiting your life. Most psychotherapists, in contrast, tend to be curious about the underlying feelings that give rise to these thoughts and behaviours and make them so difficult to change. Counsellors and psychologists work with you to replace dysfunctional assumptions and behaviours with more adaptive ways of thinking, acting and relating. Psychotherapists, in addition, encourage a greater awareness of your feelings, which can enable a shift in self-limiting thoughts and behaviours.
Counsellors and clinical psychologists are more likely than psychotherapists to work with you on specific, acute problems that can be addressed in a limited timeframe, often relying on therapeutic approaches developed specifically for identified issues. Psychotherapists often focus on more complex or long-standing issues; the work must therefore be less prescriptive and more open-ended. However, this generalisation is becoming less valid. Some counsellors and psychologists have the training to explore underlying emotional patterns, and will work with clients on issues that take time to resolve; and many psychotherapists offer an alternative way of working that is time-limited because there is an agreed focus on a specific area of the client's life.
In summary, practitioners' titles do not necessarily tell you how they would work with you, but they are all happy to discuss their approach up front. In most cases, there is more than one way to achieve significant improvement in your life and relationships, and most practitioners adapt their way of working to your situation. Key questions to ask yourself as you begin working with a therapist are, "Do I think I could develop trust in this person? Do I get the sense that he or she will focus on what's important to me? Would it be good to have this person at my side, and on my side, as I face the problems that have brought me here?"