What to expect from a Counselling Psychologist?

bureau2009

When a client attends a Counselling Psychologist what can they expect?

Putting it another way, what does a Counselling Psychologist do/offer? Any description or detail would be very much appreciated.

Also, how effective is Counselling Psychology and how does it compare with other forms of therapy, ie a Counsellor/Psychotherapist not qualifed in Psychology?

Many thanks.

JuliusCaesar

bureau2009 wrote: »

When a client attends a Counselling Psychologist what can they expect?

Putting it another way, what does a Counselling Psychologist do/offer? Any description or detail would be very much appreciated.

You can expect to be offered counselling. The type of counselling offered is up the individual CounsPsych. Depending on where they trained and worked and their own interests, they will have specialised in particular types of counselling/therapy.

bureau2009 wrote: »

Also, how effective is Counselling Psychology and how does it compare with other forms of therapy, ie a Counsellor/Psychotherapist not qualifed in Psychology?

Anyone trained in psychology should be able to offer a more rounded service than one who isn't. Even if the psychology is not used directly in the therapy, the knowledge will form a background to the intervention.

The evidence base of the particular kind of counselling/therapy will vary from one approach to another. You'll find that CBT is often recommended as it has a huge evidence base, but in practice the delivery of CBT will vary from one professional to another depending on their training.

Odysseus

JuliusCaesar wrote: »

Anyone trained in psychology should be able to offer a more rounded service than one who isn't. Even if the psychology is not used directly in the therapy, the knowledge will form a background to the intervention.

Can I ask on what basis would you say that JC? Of course it will be dependant on what we will call the other therapists training, and sadly their can be significant variations in such training. However, if done correctly a psychotherapist could very easily spend just as long studying psychotherapy and its associated sub-disciplines as a person would in training to be counselling psychologist.

It's not that I totally disagree with you, even though I would have only done I think four psychology modules in my degree, but if you look at it that should we not include anthropology, social studies, linguists, philosophy etc? The list can just go on, like I would see my study of Shakespeare and other classical texts as important in my understanding of the human condition.

WesternNight

Odysseus wrote: »

Can I ask on what basis would you say that JC? Of course it will be dependant on what we will call the other therapists training, and sadly their can be significant variations in such training. However, if done correctly a psychotherapist could very easily spend just as long studying psychotherapy and its associated sub-disciplines as a person would in training to be counselling psychologist.

But surely it's not the length of time one studies a particular discipline, but the content of those courses that makes the difference.

Odysseus

WesternNight wrote: »

But surely it's not the length of time one studies a particular discipline, but the content of those courses that makes the difference.

Well yes and no, it’s like 14 years since I started studying psychoanalysis and I would still consider myself a student, it really is an ongoing thing. However, I used the time frame reference to try make the distinction between say a therapist who studies for the minimum 2 years and someone who spends five, six, or seven years studying whatever form of therapy, if that makes sense.

I asked the question of JC as she used the term therapist rather than counselling/clinical psych. As a therapist I do think that having a qualification in psychology would help in the formation of a good therapist, but I'm interested in her opinion of it making the therapist more "rounded", as I would see many other disciplines that would facilitate a more rounded therapist.

Say in my own example I identify myself as a psychoanalytic psychotherapist, but I have trained in other therapeutic modalities. As part of a multi-disciplinary team I need to understand things from my fellow team member’s positions, so that I can understand their interventions. So I try to be open to all modalities of treatment. Part of my interest in the question would be I know a good few counselling/clinical psychologists who practice as psychoanalysts and their viewpoint would differ to JC's.

Of course the quality and the content of courses are important; but I like the format of training used to train counselling/clinical psychologists and to a certain degree would like to see something similar for psychotherapists. In that a person undergoes an under-grad course of studies, but clinical experience only starts at a post-grad level after a number of years of study. So from that viewpoint the question of time is an important consideration, there is a big difference here when you compare it to somebody doing a 2 year Dip in psychotherapy and seeing clients in the second year.

Anyway I apologise to the OP if I have dragged his/her thread too far off topic, and hope that this still facilitates their questions.