Different counselling techniques

Different approaches

There are many different approaches that you can look into help sort out issues or manage mental health difficulties. Counsellors, psychologists, social workers, and psychiatrists are likely to specialise in a particular approach, or they may use a number of approaches depending on their training and your needs.

For more information about what a counsellor, social worker, psychologist or psychiatrist does you may want to check out the Who can help you section of the site.

There are many different techniques that can be broadly split into 3 groups. These include:

Insight therapies

This type of therapy is often known as 'talk therapy'. Talking about your experiences will help get an understanding of the difficulties you may face and sort through the possible solutions.

The more common types of insight therapy are psychoanalysis, psychodynamic approaches, client centred approaches, and cognitive therapy. For more information about these and you may want to ask your counsellor, psychologist or psychiatrist.

A common form of insight therapy is Cognitive behavioural therapy. This therapy looks at changing negative thought patterns and maladaptive beliefs. Maladaptive beliefs are ideas about oneself that may not necessarily be true, but still have a negative impact on their wellbeing. Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is one of the most common forms of counselling. For more info check out the Cognitive behavioural therapy fact sheet.

Behaviour therapies

Behaviour therapies focus on the changing behaviour patterns. Behaviour therapists will often use some principles of learning, such as providing punishments for bad behaviour and rewards for good behaviour.

This type of therapy may be used to change compulsive behaviours, to help with learning problems, or to modify avoidance behaviours. With this type of therapy it is assumed that the behaviours are a product of learning in terms of what can and cannot be learned.

Biomedical therapies 

This involves the use of drugs to help to manage mental health difficulties. Drugs may be used to treat anxiety, psychosis or depression. It is a good idea to talk to your psychiatrist or doctor about the type and dosage of the drugs you are having. Everyone is different and it is possible that you may experience side effects.

It is not unusual for these approaches to overlap or for your social worker, counsellor, psychologist or psychiatrist to use a combination of approaches to help you. If you are seeing someone it may help to talk about the approaches that they are using and why they are using them.

Choosing an approach

Everyone is different and it may be that while one approach is good for one person it may not suit someone else. It is a good idea to talk to your counsellor, social worker, psychologist or psychiatrist about which approach they are trained in. It is possible that they may use a mixture of techniques to help you.

If you are not finding a particular approach helpful, it may be useful to look at the other options. For more information about finding the best help for you, check out the fact sheets that look at the I think I may need to see a new counsellor fact sheet

Acknowledgements

This information was adapted from the textbook "Psychology: Themes and Variations". 2nd Edition by Wayne Weiten.