Counselling, Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis
Counselling
Counselling is a collaborative relationship between you, the client - the person who is being counselled, and your counsellor - the person who has received training in counselling at a recognised institute of counselling and who practices counselling. Counselling requires you subscribe to the idea that you are shaped by previous experiences, your current environment, and your relationships, and that the problems you are experiencing arise from difficulties in one of these three areas. Counselling is a method of addressing these issues through working with your tendency towards positive change - something which has probably been stifled by the problems you are experiencing. In order to address these issues, counselling requires you to be the focus, to lead the counselling session by talking about what is troubling you.
Your counsellor will listen. Your counsellor will aim to help you find your own solutions to the problems you are experiencing, through exploration of current and potential future problems and techniques for solving them, and offer you non judgemental reflection, regard and support - conditions which can help people change and grow. The counselling relationship will follow mutually agreed rules, towards a goal, and will aim to develop your strengths. Counselling is a set of theories and techniques derived from observations made by counsellors - your counsellor will use particular theories and techniques during your counselling sessions, depending on their training, and the problems you are experiencing. If you want to know more about how a particular counsellor works, use the 'Contact Me' link on the counsellor's profile.
Psychotherapy
Psychotherapy is a dialogue between you, the client - the person who is in psychotherapy, and your psychotherapist - the person who has received training in psychotherapy at a recognised institute of psychotherapy and who practices psychotherapy. Psychotherapy requires you subscribe to the idea that either underlying causes from your childhood experiences give rise to the problems you are experiencing, or the idea that the way you currently think about yourself and others is the cause. Psychotherapy is a method of conceptualising these issues - to understand why the problems you are experiencing have developed for you at this particular time. In order to address these issues, psychotherapy requires you to talk about what is troubling you.
Your psychotherapist will listen. Your psychotherapist will aim to help you with the underlying causes - through exploration of childhood experiences, or exploration of the way you currently think about yourself and others, offer you the opportunity for ventilation of emotions, support, and discussion aimed at problem solving. The psychotherapeutic relationship will follow mutually agreed rules, and will aim to develop your personal insight and bring about change. Psychotherapy is a set of theories and techniques derived from observations made by psychotherapists - your psychotherapist will use particular theories and techniques during your psychotherapy sessions, depending on their training, and the problems you are experiencing. If you want to know more about how a particular psychotherapist works, use the 'Contact Me' link on the psychotherapist's profile.
Psychoanalysis
Psychoanalysis is a dialogue between you, the analysand - the person who is being analysed, and your psychoanalyst - the person who has received a training in psychoanalysis at a recognised institute of psychoanalysis and who practices psychoanalysis. Psychoanalysis requires you subscribe to the idea of the existence of the unconscious - the concept that you have ideas of which you are unaware, but which exert a dynamic effect on you in the form of ideas, actions, dreams, desires and symptoms. Psychoanalysis is a method of investigation which consists in bringing into consciousness the unconscious meaning of some of these ideas, actions, dreams, desires and symptoms - a process that can lead to profound knowledge about oneself. In order to make conscious that which is unconscious, psychoanalysis requires you to be able to free associate - to say what is on your mind without censorship.
Your psychoanalyst will listen. Your psychoanalyst will also interpret the resistance - the words and actions you use to obstruct free association, as well as interpret the transference - how you relate to your analyst (and others in your adult life), as these ways of relating are determined by your relationships with significant people during your childhood. Psychoanalysis is a set of theories and techniques derived from observations made by analysts spanning more than one hundred years - your analyst will use particular theories and techniques during your psychoanalysis, depending on their training, and the problems you are experiencing. If you want to know more about how a particular psychoanalyst works, use the 'Contact Me' link on the analyst's profile.