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Counselor vs Therapist: Which one is right for you?

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August 8, 2023
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Looking for a counselor? Or do you need a therapist? It depends on what you want to accomplish. The terms counselor and therapist are often used interchangeably. While both work with their clients on mental health issues, they often come at it from different approaches and training.

A counselor is trained for and usually treats people for a single issue, and conducts short term, skill based work with the client.

A therapist is trained for and usually treats people for multiple issues, and conducts long term, thought based work with their client.

What does a Counselor do?

A single issue could be marriage counseling, grief counseling, etc., where a specific issue is being addressed.

Short term could be a few sessions to several months.

Skilled based work is teaching the client skills to address the problems they are dealing with. This could be things like parenting skills, coping skills, or communication skills.

What does a Therapist do?

Multiple issue means two or more issues being treated because they contribute one to another or both directions, like anxiety combined with past trauma, or depression combined with marital problems and stress at work.

Long term means usually more than a year, up to several years.

Thought based work is dealing with a person’s thinking, especially patterns of thinking. This means working with their limiting beliefs, cognitive distortions, or other negative thought patterns.

Conclusion

As you can see, there can be quite a difference between what a counselor does vs a therapist. Yet sometimes, depending on their training, they do similar work.

For more on this subject, jump over to Psychology Today and Very Well Health.

Todd Call
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