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FAQ

What's the difference between Psychotherapy and Counselling?

Traditionally, counselling was born in the 70s and offered short-term support and focused upon current problems, whereas psychotherapy, which was born at the beginning of the 20th century, tends to offer more open-ended work, which therefore allows both for a “deeper” and broader exploration into any issues that may need more time and focus to work through. However, in recent times, many features of both psychotherapy and counselling overlap and so I do not tend to make wide distinctions between them.

How long does each therapy session last?

Every individual session lasts for 50 minutes. Once we've scheduled an appointment my time is prioritised for you.

How long does therapy take?

Do I need therapy?

This can be a difficult question to answer, and is ultimately a personal choice that only you can make. Some questions you may like to think about before deciding include:

  • Would I like to understand why I keep finding myself in the same position time and time again?

  • Why do I keep feeling this way?

  • Do I need help to make sense of how I deal with things both personally and in relationships?

  • Would I like someone who is consistently available and empathetic to listen and support me every week?

  • Do I need to express myself more freely and/or get things off my chest?

  • Would I like to figure out what's really important to me in life or what the purpose of my life is?

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If you still are unsure, you can be curious (and brave!) and try some therapy to see whether you can make sense of things, and in the process, learn whether you need therapy or not.

Is counselling/therapy effective? Does it work?

The evidence seems to clearly show from hundreds of studies that, on the whole, psychotherapy is around 75% effective for helping people with their mental health problems.* In statistical terms, that's pretty good! Of course, this is a generalisation, as with most scientific claims. Whether therapy will be effective for you will depend on a number of factors, including the quality of the relationship with your therapist, how ready you are to commit to and engage with yourself in making changes, the skills and experience of the therapist, and other non-therapeutic factors that may also play a significant role.

*https://www.apa.org/topics/psychotherapy/understanding

This depends on the nature of the problem(s) the individual brings to therapy. Some people find they only need a few sessions to gain some clarification about something specific. Other people may need months to years in order to understand, grow, and change. We will discuss this during the sessions. Every individual processes things at different speeds and so the work we do will accommodate the pace in which you feel most comfortable.

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