Psychotherapy and counseling are mental health treatments with distinct differences.

Psychotherapy:

It focuses on deeper psychological issues, exploring a person’s psychological history and addressing conditions like depression, anxiety, PTSD, trauma, phobia and personality disorders. It may take longer duration for the sessions spanning to few months. It utilizes established theories (e.g., REBT, NLP, regression therapy, psychodynamic therapy) and techniques to explore past experiences and unconscious processes. This approach is usually practiced by professionals who have their Bachelors and Masters in Clinical or Counseling Psychology, M Phil or PhD with stipulated training under supervision.

Counseling:

It addresses specific life problems such as stress, relationship issues, and career decisions. It is typically for shorter-term, spanning weeks to few months. It provides a supportive environment, practical solutions, guidance, and advice.

Both fields often collaborate, with counselors referring clients to psychotherapists for deeper issues. Psychotherapy offers long-term, theory-based treatment, while counseling provides short-term, practical guidance and support for specific issues.

People seek psychotherapy for many reasons. Some need to respond to unexpected changes in their lives [Eg – looking forward to get married, difficulty in managing relationships after marriage, relocation, change of job, loss of job, kids growing up and difficulty in adjusting with the growing up phase, menopause, loss of loved one, heartbreak]; while others seek self-exploration and personal growth. When coping skills are overwhelmed by guilt, doubt, anxiety, or despair, psychotherapy can help. Psychotherapy can provide support, problem-solving skills and enhanced coping for issues such as depression, anxiety, lack of confidence, relationship troubles, unresolved childhood issues, bereavement, spiritual conflicts, stress management, trauma and body image issues. People seeking psychotherapy create greater awareness in their lives leading to increased productivity and happiness.

Majorly the first session has emphasis on understanding the client and know the stressors been faced. Without understanding what has contributed for the client to face stress, diagnosis and planning the further pathway to heal is difficult. Each case is different and needs customized approach. For many cases we may begin counselling from second session, while for some cases we may do psychological assessments which may take one to two sessions after the first consultation. At the end of the first consultation, we will provide you with our initial impressions and recommendations on how to go ahead. If we recommend psychotherapy, we will work with you to develop a treatment plan, including goals and approximate time frames. Sometimes an individual’s primary concerns or symptoms are not within our area of expertise. If this happens, we will refer you to another professional who can help. At any point of time, feel free to gain clarity by asking your doubts to the Therapist.

We view psychotherapy as a partnership from the very beginning. The initial appointment involves a detailed assessment to understand you and your situation, current problems, background, your strengths and resources in order to develop an appropriate plan for treatment. Our aim is to help you feel comfortable and safe to openly talk about your concerns. Usually, each session goes for 50 minutes. As it is an information gaining session, Counselling is seldom done in first session.

This is a reasonable question and difficult to predict. Research shows that the duration of therapy is variable and can be influenced by the specific therapy interventions used, the strength of the relationship with your therapist, as well as factors specific to you. These other factors may include your goals, personal characteristics, the nature, severity, chronicity, and complexity of the problem(s) you are experiencing, external factors like social support and the extent to which you actively engage in the treatment and how comfortable you are with making changes.

Depending on your specific needs and goals, therapy can be for short duration, for a specific issue, or for long duration, to deal with recurrent life patterns or your desire for more in-depth personal growth. Duration is based on number of issues faced, regularity and consistent cooperation from client with your therapist for the process of healing. Therapy is a collaborative process and your progress and goals will be discussed during the course of healing.

To begin with, the sessions are once a week. With progress, the sessions move to once in two weeks, then once in three weeks and gradually once a month. This helps client to gain coping skills, learn to manage stress, build confidence and thereby helps clients to be enabled to manage stressful situations in better way without being much affected like earlier. To reach this stage, one has to be regular in their sessions, and actively learn skills being imparted during the sessions. If anything is not working, do share the challenges in the session with your counselor/ therapist and we will help you navigate and resolve them. 

Few things can be practiced to keep the Counseling/ psychotherapy fast tracked as mentioned below:-

• Keep sessions regular as suggested, missing sessions consecutively delays the session progress and expected positive change may also get delayed.
• Make a book for Counseling/ psychotherapy where you write the key points or take away from each session based on what was discussed. You can also write points that you wish to discuss in the next session.
• Do write down your significant dreams if any, they may be analyzed in the session, providing vital information through the interpretation.
• You may also opt to take Bach flower remedies. Bach flower remedies are a type of natural therapy developed by Dr. Edward Bach, an English physician and homeopath, during the 1930s. They consist of 38 different flower essences, each aimed at addressing specific emotional states or personality traits. The remedies are made by infusing flowers in water under sunlight, thus they are safe to consume. Bach flower remedies are considered safe and gentle, suitable for all ages, including expecting/ nursing mothers, children and pets.

The idea behind Bach flower remedies is that emotional well-being is crucial for overall health. Dr. Bach believed that unhealthy  emotions like fear, anger, and sadness can lead to physical illness. By restoring emotional balance, these remedies aim to help the body heal itself. Each flower remedy is associated with a particular emotional state. It helps to break the thought patterns that are contributing to stress thereby healing the unhelpful emotions.

They are used to support emotional well-being and can be taken alone or alongside other treatments [like allopathy medicines, homeopathy or ayurveda] without interfering. They act gently working on bringing the positive aspects of emotions making it a part of your emotional, behavioural and changes in your thought process.