Overview and Information

Psychiatry, psychology, counselling and psychotherapy are often confused, it is something clients often ask me about in the first sessions. I thought it might be helpful to use this page to go into definitions and give a brief overview.

Psychiatry

In short, Psychiatrists are doctors who specializes in mental health problems and are trained to deal with the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of mental and emotional disorders. They are not psychotherapists or counsellors, unless they have done additional training. In the USA the two roles are often combined, not so normally in the UK, where they see patients perhaps once a month. They can prescribe drugs, and have the power to section someone if they feel they are at risk. Their diagnosis is based on the DSM IV, a diagnostic manual for a variety of disorders.

Psychology & Psychologists

A Psychologist is a professional who is interested in how people think, how they act, react and interact. There are a huge number of specializations for psychologists, ranging from medical to business, media etc. They can offer counselling with the relevant additional training.

Counselling & Psychotherapy

Therapy is a formal and professional relationship within which patients/clients can profitably explore difficult, and often painful, emotions and experiences. These may include feelings of anxiety, depression, trauma, or perhaps the loss of meaning of one's life. It is a process that seeks to help the person gain an increased capacity for choice, through which the client becomes more autonomous and self determined. I go into this in more detail in the services section, where I discuss my own approach to therapy.

A question sometimes asked is what is the difference between counselling and psychotherapy. For me, there are many similarities between these disciplines which often overlap. Counselling can be issue specific, such as a specific trauma or bereavement, however one can often lead to the other. Perhaps the most important distinction is 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/patients. Psychotherapy is often considered to take longer and go deeper. Many counselling courses are two years in length, my training is to date five years and I am constantly adding to it.