Therapy is a general term often used to describe counselling, psychological therapy and psychotherapy, all of which are activities designed to help improve things when they are not right. These approaches have much in common and use 'talking' to understand what is wrong, as well as to explore ways of changing things.

Counselling

Counselling is a process focusing on particular problems or issues that have arisen in recent times, such as feeling low, anxious, confused or difficulties with alcohol, eating or drugs. It involves talking about things to explore what is wrong and to look for ways of making things better. This can take anything from 6 to 24 sessions.

Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT)

CBT draws on psychological ideas to look at very specific issues of difficulties, such as anxiety, stress or depression. It focuses on the thinking patterns creating and maintaining the presenting problem/s, identifying their links with emotions and behaviours. CBT encompasses a range of techniques, all of which are very active and expect a client to start make changes in what they do. This suits some but not all. CBT is of often of slightly shorter duration than counselling, often lasting for between 6-12 sessions.

Psychotherapy

Psychotherapy is a process whereby longer-term problems or issues are explored in terms of their relationship to a client's experiences over life. It basically explores the 'strategies' we adopt to cope with things and looks at how these link to the problems we are having. Although it often overlaps with counselling, psychotherapy is best thought of as a longer process, lasting anything up to a year or more of regular sessions.