I’ve recently been asked about the different types of counselling that are offered and so I thought I’d try to give a simple explanation.

There are vast amounts of literature written about each of the modalities and so what I give you here is a high-level summary. If you want to know more, a quick internet search will help you dive deeper.

There are three main modalities (approaches) – Psychodynamic, Person Centred (one of the humanistic approaches) and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT). The majority of counsellors/ therapists will have a preferred modality but recognise and use elements from different approaches according to what they feel best suits their client’s issues.

All counsellors irrespective of their approach will spend time developing empathy, congruence and unconditional positive regard with their clients. It is vital to the success of any counselling process that client and counsellor feel able to work together.

Psychodynamic Counselling

My preferred modality is psychodynamic which put simply means that I believe that we are all a product of our past – that our beliefs and life experiences makes us what we are today. The way I help clients is by helping them discover why they behave or react as they do now. Once they understand where the behaviour / reaction comes from they are in a position to make changes.

This approach involves talking about the past, understanding events, experiences and emotions and looking for patterns in circumstances and behaviours.

Psychodynamic counselling therefore involves looking into the past and addressing unconscious factors. The aim is to allow clients to make unconscious thoughts and reactions conscious to enable understanding and growth.

This approach is particularly useful for problems such as relationship issues, anxiety, depression, stress, anger, loss, identity, trauma and abuse.

Person Centred Counselling

Person centred counsellors help clients learn to accept who they are and reconnect with their true selves by being prized and valued by the therapist. They do this by focusing on the conscious mind and the here and now with the current problems and issues. They do not attempt to discover where the behaviour / feeling originated but deal with the current problems and issues.

Therapists adopting this approach help their clients to seek a solution within themselves. Growth is self- directed. The counsellor is non-directive, working with the client to ensure that they reach their own conclusions.

The person-centred approach believes that clients can self- actualise (able to take full advantage of their talents but being mindful of their limitations) and wants them to reach that state.

Person-centred counselling is useful either alone or with other therapies for issues such as grief, depression, anxiety, stress and abuse.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)

This is the therapy often offered by the NHS.

CBT counsellors believe that the way we feel is affected by the way we think and our perceptions. Our reaction to things is as a result of what we learn and how we are conditioned. It focuses on the conscious mind and believes that we can recognise negative ways of thinking and learn positive ways to replace them.

The CBT approach is to teach skills to help change and reduce angst. People having CBT often develop a “tool set” which helps them in challenging situations. Clients’ negative beliefs are challenged with the aim of removing the negative emotions.

Clients undertaking this type of therapy will focus on achieving a series of goals. CBT is useful for dealing with issues such as anxiety, depression, agoraphobia and obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD).

Has that helped?

I hope that this brief summary may help those people trying to decide which type of therapy is best for them. As I said at the beginning most therapists use some techniques from each approach but have a favoured modality which is what they will primarily use.

If you really are not sure which approach is best for you – try talking to different counsellors about how they think their modality would help you. I really can’t emphasise enough that getting on with your counsellor is probably the most powerful predictor of improvement rather than the approach used. As always please double check that the counsellor(s) you are considering is properly qualified. You may want to look at my blog on how to choose a counsellor.

Whoever you choose and whatever their modality I hope that your counselling journey brings you all that you wish for.