It is definitely a tough task to distinguish between Counselling &
Psychotherapy! If Counselling can be said to be at one end of a
spectrum, Psychotherapy can be said to be at the other end: in fact,
Counselling or Psychotherapy can be found anywhere along this Continuum!
For example, if a school-teacher designated as a
Counsellor has to deal with a student who has been repeatedly caught
stealing from other students as well as from home, she can try to
create awareness in that child by trying to make him understand what
prompts him to steal, or what has caused the habit to be ingrained in
him in the first place. She can create an awareness in the child to
come to a self- understanding that this habit is definitely detrimental
to his future & that he has to stop it immediately.
But in case the child is unable to stop this habit of stealing in spite
of being intellectually convinced, then the teacher may not be able to
help him further if she is trained in Counselling methods alone. But if
she has been trained in Psychotherapy as well, then she has got lots of
other Psychotherapeutic tools at her disposal to help the student
overcome this habit- like behaviour therapy techniques, aversion
therapy, sub-conscious suggestions etc.
In short, psychotherapy can be defined as the
treatment of emotional problems of an individual by various
psychological methods. In it, the Therapist establishes a professional
relationship with the client, & helps to remove, modify or retard
the existing disturbing symptoms in him that the client by himself is
unable to change. There are various schools of Psychotherapy like
Psychoanalysis, Cognitive Therapy, Behavioural Therapy, Rational
Emotive Therapy, Transactional Analysis, Hypnosis, and Yoga.
