When you need help for a troubled mind

People at present are running in a never-ending rat race, further tensed by persistent competition between each other. All this leads to a tragic struggle between body and mind. During a time like that, experiencing bad phases with mood swings isn’t hard to overcome, especially when you have identified where the issue lies.   

Counselling and Psychotherapy are two modalities introduced in Psychology to help individuals.   
These terms are often confused by many individuals, especially due to its interchangeable usage in psychiatry and overlapping nature of several features. However, the duo have significant aspects. These will help  distinguish one from 
the other.   

Counselling
Counselling, which is also known as talk therapy, consists of a single conversation or a series of conversations between a psychologist and his client. It is a broadly used term in psychiatry, which goes hand-in-hand with treatment, used for the enhancement of mental health. Counselling is also considered to be a specific kind of therapeutic approach, which will help an individual to overcome unnecessary emotions and behavioural patterns. The main objective behind counselling is to make the client expose his distressing issues to a professional who is rich in knowledge about the human mind. The professional can then support the patient in adjusting him or herself, in order to perform day to day activities in a normal and efficient manner.   

For an example, if a person is suffering from severe depression, as a result of loss of a loved one, proper counselling will assist him to have an easy recovery. Treatment will help the person to be who he or she used to be.   

According to some health professionals, counselling should mainly focus on one problem at a time, thereby finding solutions in a logical way. In this case, a counsellor must show empathy towards the client, so that the client will feel comfortable to reveal his true feelings. This information is very important in prescribing the most appropriate mode of therapy.   

Psychotherapy 
Psychotherapy, in contrast, is an evolutionary procedure which will support the client to develop a rational and clear vision about his long standing attitudes, recurrent emotions, ways of thinking, behavior and personality, which might have resulted in current issues, in the quality of life and relationships with others.   

Psychotherapy, is also known to go deep into a particular matter in order to reveal the root cause, which causes the related, disturbed perspective of life. Ultimately, the client will relieve himself by taking control of his life and developing self-awareness, rather than getting triggered by unconscious impulses and stimulations.   

 Psychotherapists, are also aware of the individual’s soul, body and inner child, which might have made a negative impact on troublesome experiences. However, all these methods of revealing a person’s past life and his nature, will eventually result in an effective and healing relationship between the client and psychotherapist which will be beneficial in creating a mentally 
healthy person.   

The key difference between these two terms, lies in the time taken to experience effective benefits. In fact, counselling is a short term process, which focuses on one individual issue at a time, thereby finding a process to overcome it. Here psychotherapy involves a long term process, which involves prolong periods of working with clients, in order to uncover the foundation of the problem and address it in the most efficient direct or 
indirect manner.   

Furthermore, counselling usually deals with clients who have good coping skills, who are fit enough to think rationally and find solutions to their problems themselves, when a little supporting hand is provided by the counsellor. In contrast, psychotherapy mainly involves individuals, who are dependent on the psychotherapist to gain control over their personality, mind, emotions and behavioral patterns. They might also need therapy from time to time with breakthrough periods, depending on the condition.   

Counselling also addresses issues in a less in depth manner whereas psychotherapists have intense and extensive knowledge about psychological theories and modalities of treatments. They will also make clients to dig into their past experiences, in order to understand their human development, cognitive and behavioral patterns, thereby enabling them to explore themselves, identify as strong individuals and get rid of negative senses, self believes and external stimulations.   

Having all these factors in mind, it is always effective to choose the best treatment for you or your loved ones, which can be identified more accurately with the help of professional advice.