Psychological guidance and counselling, mental health and psychotherapy

Psychologist / Ibtihal Abu Asba
The project for empowering abused women / Hebron

Some hold that the distinction or differentiation between psychological counselling and psychotherapy is an artificial distinction and differentiation, and most counsellors and psychotherapists believe this, using the two terms interchangeably without any practical distinction, confining the distinction to the terminological, verbal level only.
Guidance and counselling, mental health and psychotherapy are considered twins, and although they are not identical twins they are very similar, that is, the aspects of agreement between them are more than the aspects of difference.

Psychological guidance and counselling is a constructive process that aims at helping the individual to understand themselves, study their personality, know their experiences, define their problems, develop their potential and solve their problems in the light of their knowledge, wishes, education and training, so that they reach the defining and achieving of their aims and the achieving of mental health and adjustment personally, educationally, occupationally, in the family and in marriage.

As for mental health, it is a relatively permanent state in which the individual is psychologically adjusted and feels happy with themselves and with others, is able to realise themselves and use their abilities and potential to the greatest possible extent, is able to face the demands of life, has an integrated and sound personality, and behaves normally, so that they live in safety and peace.
Mental health is a positive state that involves enjoying health of mind and body, and is not merely the absence of, or freedom from, the symptoms of psychological illness. Mental health has two parts: the first is a theoretical and practical part dealing with personality, motives, needs, the causes of psychological illnesses and their symptoms, the psychological defences and adjustment, educating people and correcting wrong concepts, preparing and training specialists and carrying out scientific research. The second part is a practical application dealing with preventing psychological illness and diagnosing and treating psychological illnesses.

As for psychotherapy, it is a kind of treatment in which psychological methods are used to treat problems, disorders or illnesses of an emotional character from which the patient suffers and which affect their behaviour. In it the therapist works on removing the existing morbid symptoms, modifying them or neutralising their effect, while helping the patient to solve their particular problems, to adjust to their environment and to make the best use of their potential, and helping them to develop their personality and push it along the road of healthy psychological growth, so that the patient becomes more mature and more able to achieve psychological adjustment in the future.

Below are the most important elements of agreement between psychological counselling on the one hand and psychotherapy on the other:

• Both are a process of helping and serving the individual psychologically with the aim of achieving self-understanding, self-realisation, the solving of problems and the achieving of psychological adjustment and mental health.
• The information required for case study and the means of gathering this information are the same in both.
• They share the foundations on which they are based and use a common language and common methods such as the interview and the case study.
• The strategies and aims of each of them are the same, namely: the developmental, preventive and therapeutic strategy.
• The procedures of the counselling process and of the psychotherapy process are the same as a whole, for in both fields there are: examination, defining the problems, diagnosis, solving the problems, taking decisions, learning, follow-up and termination.
• Each of them meets in the borderline cases between the normal and the abnormal or between the ordinary and the ill.
• There is a field of psychological counselling, namely therapeutic counselling, which is considered a twin of one of the best-known methods of psychotherapy, namely the method of client-centred psychotherapy.
• Therapeutic psychology includes both therapeutic counselling and psychotherapy, and includes concepts and skills common to the processes of psychological counselling and psychotherapy.
• No counselling centre or psychological clinic is without the psychological counsellor and the psychotherapist.

As for the difference between psychological counselling and psychotherapy, it is a difference in degree and not in kind, and a difference in the client and not in the process. This means that the psychological counselling process and the psychotherapy process have the same steps, with a difference in the degree of focus and of work. And there is a difference in the client, for the client in psychological counselling has greater insight and bears a greater share of responsibility and activity in the process than the patient in psychotherapy.

The most important elements of difference between psychological counselling and psychotherapy:

Psychological counselling
Concern with the sound and the ordinary, that is, counselling services are directed to those closest to health.
The problems are less serious and less deep and are accompanied by ordinary anxiety.
Solving problems at the level of consciousness.
The client reorganises the structure of their own personality.
Supportive and educational.
Usually short-term.
Its services are offered at schools, universities and social institutions.
The counsellor affirms the points of strength in the client and their use in personal situations.
The client has a great duty and responsibility in taking decisions for themselves and solving their problems.

Psychotherapy
Concern with patients with neurosis and psychosis or those with acute emotional problems.
The problems are more serious and deeper and are accompanied by neurotic anxiety.
A focus on the unconscious.
The therapist is the one responsible for reorganising the personality.
Supportive with a particular focus.
It takes a longer time.
Its services are usually offered at psychological clinics, psychiatric hospitals and private clinics.
The therapist relies more on the information specific to individual cases.
The therapist is more active and plays a greater role in the treatment process.