In my opinion, counseling is usually overshadowed by other mental health professions, such as psychiatry and therapy. What if I told you that counseling is more beneficial than both of them for most people? Now, the debate between counseling and therapy is really close. Psychiatry is far a part for me. You could say that this is biased because I really dislike psychiatrists. I also believe that psychiatry is one of the worst, if not, the worst mental health profession out there. I will save that discussion for another post, so back to counseling and therapy. It’s best if we look at the difference between counseling and therapy.
Counseling
According to the American Counseling Association, “Professional counselors help clients identify goals and potential solutions to problems which cause emotional turmoil; seek to improve communication and coping skills; strengthen self-esteem; and promote behavior change and optimal mental health.” This sounds very similar to the things that I talk about in my blog posts and social media. Counselors usually have a masters degree in counseling, psychology, or social work. Counselors have to go through 3000 hours of supervision before they can take the licensing exam. This means that they have to work in a place that provides supervision. If there’s no supervision, they get 0 hours towards their license. Counselors usually work in schools, counseling centers, mental health agencies, and hospitals before they have their own private practice.
There are 4 types of counseling. The 4 types of counseling is individual, group, marriage, and family. Individual counseling focuses on issues such as substance abuse, depression, loss or grief, stress, and anxiety. Group counseling is the same as individual counseling, but in a group setting. You see this in a lot of counseling centers and shelters because they do support groups around certain mental health issues.
Family and Marriage is the last two types of counseling. These types of counseling are usually done by Marriage & Family Therapists. Any trouble or conflict with a relationship or around family? Marriage & Family Therapists have you covered. I know the description has “Therapist” in it’s name, but most of these people go the counseling route to become a Marriage & Family Therapist. Counseling and social work are the two fastest ways to get into the mental health field, if that’s where you’d like to work at. Now, let’s take a look at therapy.
Therapy
Therapy is very similar to counseling, but more developed. Therapists have a masters or doctorate degree in clinical psychology, therapy, and counseling. It’s possible to become a therapist if you start out as a counselor. It just takes more education and supervision to become a therapist. Therapy is split into the same 4 groups that counseling had. There’s individual, group, and marriage & family therapy. Their roles are completely similar to counseling.
So, what’s the difference between therapy and counseling? Let’s take a look at the definition of therapy. According to Talkspace, “therapy is the process of working with a licensed therapist to develop positive thinking and coping skills to treat mental health issues, such as mental illness and trauma.” That sounds really similar to the definition of counseling. Both definitions involve coping and problem solving skills to treat mental health issues. Here’s my take on these two mental health professions.
Counseling & Therapy
Counseling is:
- A Short-Term process
- More advice based like an advisor or a guide
- Focused more on talk therapy (CBT, DBT, Mindfulness, Self-Talk, etc.)
- Focused more on simple/more common mental health issues
- Rely more on coping strategies and problem solving skills
Therapy is:
- A Long-Term process
- Rely more on treatment and medication
- Focus more on serious mental health illnesses and disorders (schizophrenia, major depressive, bipolar, anxiety)
- Focused more on CBT than anything else, but other therapy methods are used (humanistic, gestalt, existential, narrative, etc.)
Counseling vs. Therapy
I know I focus a lot on committing to the long-term process, but not when talking about counseling and therapy. Most people deal with stress, anxiety, and depression throughout their lives. They have to deal with work, relationships, health, finances, etc. It’s best that these people deal with their issues in counseling rather than therapy. Save therapy for the people that have been experiencing serious mental health illnesses for a long time. That way, most people’s needs are met and mental health professionals can focus on specific types of illnesses.
Differences
The short term process is better for those that deal with common mental health issues. It allows them to save more money and time, while getting the necessary skills needed to work on their problems. Also, therapy focuses more on creating a treatment plan. Counseling doesn’t have a detailed treatment plan because they focus on the here and now. When you focus on the present, you think of ways on how to fix them.
When you focus on the past, you think about all of the things that led up to this point. Every negative event that happened to you is taken account of. It gets to the point where you have a lot of issues stacked up against each other. You will be asked to receive medication as a part of your treatment plan. Those that have been reading my blog for a while knows how much I dislike medication.
Counseling also does not diagnose people, which is also a big benefit for me. No one likes to be labeled with a mental health disorder or illness. It makes you feel like there’s something seriously wrong with you and that you need help. Since there’s no diagnosis, there is no need to worry about having a disorder placed on you. It also prevents the risk of being misdiagnosed as well. If you’re misdiagnosed, then you will go see a mental health professional more often. You will have like 20 different mental health disorders when in reality, you only have stress and anxiety.
Conclusion
Think of counseling as a more shorter, and simpler form of therapy. It has all of the perks and benefits, just in a shorter amount of time. Some problems will require extensive help and some will not require much help at all. It all depends on what you believe is best for you. Don’t worry if you go to a counselor and you’re issue is out of their expertise. They will be more than willing to refer you to a therapist if needed.
