How does therapy actually work, how do you find a good one, and what’s the difference between counseling/therapy/psychiatrists/psychologists/etc.?
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In most cases, therapy works because it helps people figure out why they have certain feelings and reactions to situation. Once they understand that, they can learn how to change unhealthy patterns of thinking and acting.
Counseling is not a really define role, it’s an umbrella term for anyone that could help someone by talking with them. There is no legal requirement to be a counsellor, unless a specific organisation demand it. In general they are less qualified and can only help you so far. They are often the first person someone will get help with, trying to figure out what is wrong and getting recommended to a specialist that could better help you.
Therapy is where you meet with a legally bound specialist. So anyone with a license and a title protected by the law. This include psychologist, Social workers, Marriage/Family Therapist and some specific type of counsellors. Basically if you specific requirement for you role defined by the law, you are a therapist, if not you are a counsellors. A Therapist can call himself a counsellor, but a counsellor can’t always call themselves a therapist.
Psychologist are there to talk to you and help you figure out what is wrong and how you can fit it. They are a type of therapist that studied psychology and is licensed.
Psychiatrists are something completely different, they are medical doctor specialist in brain chemistry. They gonna identify what mental problems you could have and with the help of medicine try to balance the chemistry of your brain to either fix the problem or more likely fix the symptoms.
There’re many type of mental illness as well as therapy for them but for example, therapy can teach you control your emotions better, reform the way of your thinking, exercise that reduce stress or unwanted behavior,…
Counseling: you ask a professional for advice
Therapy: you work on your therapist’s plan to resolve your problem.
Psychiatrist: Psychology Doctor that can give prescription. (usually for really grave disorder that can’t be helped with therapy or need monitoring ex: schizophrenia)
Psychologist: Psychology expert, can’t give prescription. Can do therapy. (for thing like stress, depression, phobia)
The psychiatry/psychology distinction is taken care of, so I’ll weigh in on therapy a little bit. Counselors typically have less formal training than psychologists, who carry doctoral degrees, but I’m not aware of conclusive research to suggest that one is necessarily always a better therapist than the other.
The most important aspect of therapy is feeling that you have a strong fit with your therapist. This person needs to understand you and see the big picture of your life. You may not find this fit with your first therapist, but I encourage you to give it a few sessions to figure that out. It’s also completely normal not to be able to explain why the fit is or isn’t there. A lot of that stuff is beyond words. Once you find a good fit, you can focus on what is of secondary importance, which is the type of therapy you do with the therapist. One type of therapy that I like a lot is called Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). You can look up “The happiness trap” on YouTube for some short videos that explain some of the core concepts. Again, therapy type (ACT or whatever else) is secondary to fit. Feel free to message me for more info or resources.
What each role does is answered elsewhere in the thread. The best way to get a mental health professional is to ask your general practitioner for a referral to either a psychiatrist or a therapist, whichever you feel you need more. They can help you find someone in-network and get in to see them within a month or two, instead of having to search for one who’s accepting new patients. If you don’t like them you can say you don’t think they’re a good fit for your needs and a good one will give you a referral to a different one.
Psychologists are people with degrees in psychology, while psychiatrists have medical degrees and thus the power to prescribe medicine. Finding the right therapy for you is a long process that might include a lot of trial and error, but a good place to start is with your general physician who should be able to refer you to the proper instances for your issues.
HEADS UP LONG COMMENT!
There are a lot of different kinds of therapy. I’ll try to give the best description and advice I can based on personal experience.
-CBT aka cognitive behavioural therapy. This is usually a group based therapy, that focuses on teaching you how to identify problems, learn how to fight problematic feelings and thoughts, and it teaches you a lot about taking a step back to see how your thoughts affect your actions. It’s really good and it really helps with coping. CBT is a short term therapy following several modules for a few weeks or months.
-DBT aka dialectical behavioural therapy. This therapy is often group based as well and also follows several modules as a short term therapy. It builds off of CBT but focuses more on validation, social aspects, and relationships. DBT helps correct destructive behaviour and negative thinking patterns and teaches you how to recognize and identify these problems.
-One on one therapy. This is exactly what it sounds like. You privately meet with a therapist, usually for around an hour, and you talk about your, stresses, feelings, problems with a professional who went to school to help you find solutions and offer knowledgeable advice on these things. This therapy is long term and very helpful in finding helping you with any problem or stress that you approach your therapist with. If you want to vent and cry or have a more serious discussion that’s what they are there for. They will validate your feelings in the right situations and still offer advice on what to do or how to manage in the problem. If you have some trauma or heavy experiences, they will help you open up and help you recover as it is mostly affecting your life in small ways in the present. Your therapist is someone that you go to who you can talk to about anything, even stuff you don’t feel comfortable talking to your friends or family about. Any conversation that happens with your therapist is confidential unless you want to hurt yourself or someone else.
Now to answer the next part. Counselling is usually short term and is used for more general issues. Therapy is long term and focuses on a broader spectrum of issues. Psychologists usually take on people with more severe mental health issues. They can diagnose disorder based on studying behaviour and can help treat the issue. Psychology is a PHD while a therapist is a Masters. Psychologists sometimes work with psychiatrists to provide proper treatment. A psychiatrist is the only one of those who can prescribe you with medication. Their main focus is figuring out what medication you need and what specific variant of medication is best suited for you. A psychiatrist will often recommend seeing a psychologist while you are getting help to get the best results for long term treatment.
Lastly, finding a good therapist can take some time. It’s important to find someone you actually feel comfortable talking to. Sometimes it can take a couple sessions to feel comfortable opening up, but if you still aren’t feeling too great about it, don’t be afraid to look for a different therapist. If you feel like you can talk to them about anything, and also think the advice and solutions they offer you are helpful, you’ve found someone good. Personally I found that looking for my own therapist online gave me better results than one recommended by my school or family doctor. Where I live they offer “sliding scale therapy” in some places. These are students who’s are finishing their masters or returning to do their PHDs. Not only is it cheaper, I’ve found it so much easier to click with someone who speaks to me the same way I speak to them while still being professional (it may have also helped that I felt more comfortable because the were closer to my age). I’ve found that I like behavioural one on one therapy the best, because while it’s still a normal session your therapist will pick up on small physical behaviours that you do while talking about specific issues and figures out how it’s subconsciously related to a problem. ex, sitting with your arms and legs close to your body or holding a pillow when talking about a certain issue can be a boundary problem. You are putting an object between you and the other individual or staying compact subconsciously. It’s a habit you probably developed from negative a serious of negative past events and your body is showing hints of that in ways that you don’t usually notice. They help you open up about those events and lower the walls you put up to help you heal.
Personally, I know I’ve found a good therapist when they aren’t treating my as “just another patient” and are actually engaging and attentive when I am talking. It’s important not to get discouraged when trying to find the right fit for you and it’s always good to ask someone who likes their therapist how they found them.
*this is only personal knowledge and understanding, it’s always good to do your own research to get the best understanding and most accurate results*
A lot of misinformation in this thread. Clinical psychologist here. Sometimes these terms depend on state and date of license issuance, but generally:
A therapist is someone who does therapy, this can be done by individuals with masters or doctorates. It is a catch all term.
Psychologist is a legal term for someone with a doctoral degree in psychology. This could be in a research field (ex cognitive psychologist) or a clinical field (ex clinical psychologist, neuropsychologist).
Psychiatrist is an individual who went to medical school and then chose to specialize in psychiatry, a blend of medicine and therapeutic skills. Some psychiatrist do therapy, some do more therapy (edit: provide medication), many do both.
A general difference between psychologists and psychiatrists is that psychiatrists can prescribe medication and deliver psychotherapy. Clinical psychologists can do psychological testing (IQ, personality, etc) and deliver psychotherapy.
Counseling and therapy are essentially synonymous, though sometimes counseling is used to refer to therapy for individuals without a severe mental health diagnosis.
One way to find a psychologist is to call your insurance and ask them to recommend providers in network to you. You can also use a resource like Psychologytoday.com to search in your area. You can also just google the above terms in google maps.
Very briefly, therapy/counseling works by using psychological principles like insight, behavior, and relationships in order to help a person change both their intrapsychic and interpsychic behavior.
There are exceptions to the above, and obviously a lot more detail. Please feel free to ask more.
Simple explanation:
Therapy tries to teach you how to better process, cope with, or otherwise address whatever the issue is.
When repeated, it can also make these better coping mechanisms automatic.
A psychiatrist is a physician and can therefore prescribe medications, order labs and imaging tests, etc. A psychologist cannot.
Not really an answer to the question, but Thank You.
I’m struggling right now, both with the idea of going to a therapist and finding one (why does it have to be so difficult??). This thread has been very informative, helpful, and terribly coincidental!
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