What is the difference between Counselling and Psychotherapy?
There are many similarities between these two, and it is very hard to explain the differences between them. In counselling normally there is an acute problem which needs to be resolved with 4-6 sessions. There is usually a general understanding that a psychotherapist has had longer training that a counsellor, and can work with a wider range of clients. Psychotherapy is often considered to take longer and go deeper and it can focus on earlier life experiences as well as unconscious material like dreams. As a result, the work can last over quite a long term.
What is Psychotherapy?
Psychotherapy is a professional and conscious attempt through psychological means to influence a troubled person and intentionally remove or relieve the problems and suffering these are causing. Psychotherapy is a professional activity, which demands a professional qualification and training from a psychotherapist. In psychotherapy the client can profitably explore difficult, and often painful, emotions and experiences. These may include feelings of anxiety, depression, trauma, or perhaps loss of meaning in one's life.
Psychotherapy may be provided for individuals or children, couples, families and in groups.
The actual work is mainly to encourage the client to talk and explore their feelings, beliefs and thoughts, and relevant aspects of and events in their childhood and personal history. Some psychotherapists work to help the client understand more about their problems and then make appropriate changes in their thinking and behaviour.
How long will psychotherapy take?
Each individual is unique and, as problems may have been around for a number of years, it is difficult to predict how long therapy may take, but normally weekly psychoanalytic psychotherapy takes 2-4 years. We want clients to feel safe in their therapy and secure in the knowledge that they have open-ended time to explore and resolve psychological problems. This means that when the therapy comes to an end both the client and the therapist feel that the time is right.
What is Psychoanalytic/psychodynamic Psychotherapy?
In a nutshell, the psychoanalytic process is all about trying to move unconscious or subconscious material so that one is able to be more conscious. This happens by exploring for instance, unintended acts or behaviour or by exploring or analyzing with the therapist dreams, nightmares or daydreaming. Psychoanalytic understanding of one’s present life is based on analysing one’s childhood experiences and how these effect in one’s present life.
Who can it help?
Psychoanalytic psychotherapy is an effective intervention for clients experiencing mental or emotional distress, enabling them to move on in their lives. Psychoanalytic psychotherapy can provide clients the tools and skills with which to more effectively understand their emotional lives. Clients frequently come to Share Psychotherapy after suffering emotional unhappiness, great difficulty and life traumas. Psychoanalytic psychotherapy allows clients to develop a greater awareness of themselves, their own needs and so to work towards self-acceptance and understanding.