What is the difference between counselling and psychotherapy?
When you begin looking for professional help the terms counselling and psychotherapy can easily cause confusion. As you read through therapy websites you will find that some services offer counselling, some offer psychotherapy, and some offer both. So what does it all mean?
Put simply: counselling tends to look at the problem "outside of me," and psychotherapy tends to deal with the problem "inside of me." This is not a technical explanation of the differences - just a brief, jargon-free explanation to help the consumer who is looking for a therapist. Definitions will vary between clinicians so when looking for a therapist it may be helpful to ask directly how they personally define the differences. The following is how we at Auckland City Therapy distinguish the difference between each approach.
Counselling
When most people think about mental health they think of counselling. Counselling is a broadly used term that has become synonymous with mental health treatment. However, when a mental health professional is talking about counselling they are usually referring to a specific therapeutic approach. Broadly speaking, counselling focuses on treating unwanted or distressing emotional or behavioural symptoms. The aim of counselling is to ease emotional distress and help you get back to a normal level of functioning. For example, if somebody is suffering depression following a relationship breakup, counselling will help overcome the depression so that the person feels better again.
Psychotherapy
Psychotherapy, from the consumer's perspective, has many similarities with counselling, and indeed, there is much overlap between the two approaches. For example, they both aim at easing emotional distress so that you can get on with living a normal life again, and both approaches will help you learn more effective ways of managing the problem should the same thing occur in the future.
The difference, however, is that whilst also attending to a person's immediate symptoms, psychotherapy has more focus on the underlying aspects of someone's character structure that might contribute to the problem. In other words, what is it about your psychological makeup that influences the situations you find yourself in?
Consider someone who repeatedly finds themselves in conflict with managers at work. Counselling might focus on relieving the immediate stress of the current role. Psychotherapy would also consider why this pattern recurs across different jobs, and what earlier experiences or expectations might be shaping this person's response to authority.
Which approach do you need?
So back to your search for a therapist. If things in your life were fine before, and an event (or series of events) has caused you to hit an emotional roadblock, then counselling will help you feel better and get back to where you were before the incident(s) occurred. If, however, things have always been this way, or have been this way for a long time (for example, you have felt depressed or anxious for as long as you can remember, or have always found yourself in destructive relationships etc) then psychotherapy will help you understand these situations more completely and help you change those aspects of your personality that may have previously contributed to your struggles.
At Auckland City Therapy we understand that everybody is different and a problem will rarely fit cleanly into a box. Therefore, we tend not to prescribe one approach over the other, rather, we will usually use a blend of both approaches depending on your situation and tailor our method to work in the way that will be most helpful and beneficial for you.
You need not decide in advance
It is worth stating this plainly: when working with us, you do not need to determine, in advance, whether you require counselling or psychotherapy. As noted above, we rarely commit to one approach at the exclusion of the other. Instead, we move between the two as required, session by session, according to what is most relevant to you at the time. In one session this may resemble counselling, addressing whatever is most pressing; in another, it may resemble psychotherapy, examining why a particular pattern persists. This distinction is not something you need to identify or request - it is simply built into how we practice.
This is particularly relevant for neurodivergent clients, for whom immediate stressors and longer-standing patterns are often closely connected. If you would like to understand more about getting started, you may find it helpful to read about what to expect in your first session, or contact us directly to discuss your situation.