Counseling and Therapy
The Terminologies of Counseling and Therapy Get Mixed Up Often So Here Is My Meaning
Counseling implies giving advice – that can be appropriate and helpful. It can be a part of therapy. The tougher issues in therapy, the ones that cause deep pain and suffering, are not fully subject to the kind of rational conscious control that counseling advice helps with.
Here is a recent quote about clients experiencing a lot of pain and difficulty by an eminent scientist expressing his frustration at therapists who explain and give advice: ”Psychologists usually try to help people use insight and understanding to manage their behavior. However, neuroscience research shows that very few psychological problems are the result of defects in understanding; most originate in pressures from deeper regions of the brain that drive our perception and attention.” … Bessel Van Der Kolk, The Body Keeps the Score 2014
Sometimes, advice or counsel is really what you need, and depending on what you bring to my office, therapy as I practice it might sometimes contain only a very small part of the giving of advice.
