Different Types of Counselling

Humanistic Psychotherapy
This embraces techniques coming from the “personal growth movement” and encourages people to explore their feelings and take responsibility for their thoughts and actions. Emphasis is on self-development and achieving highest potential rather than dysfunctional behaviour. “Client-centred” or “non-directive” approach is often used and the therapy can be described as “holistic”. The client’s creative instincts may be used to explore and resolve personal issues.

Integrative Counselling
This is when several distinct models of counselling and psychotherapy are used together in a converging way rather than in separate pieces.

Person-centred counselling
Devised by Carl Rogers and also called “client-centred” or “Rogerian” counselling, this is based on the assumption that an individual (client), seeking help in the resolution of a problem he /she is experiencing, can enter into a relationship with another individual (counsellor) who is sufficiently accepting and permissive to allow the client to freely express emotions and feelings. This will enable the client to come to terms with negative feelings, which may have caused emotional problems, and develop inner resources. The objective is for the client to become able to perceive him/herself as a person, with the power and freedom to change, rather than as an object.

Psychodynamic Psychotherapy / Counselling
This approach stresses the importance of the unconscious and past experience in determining current behaviour. The client is encouraged to talk about childhood relationships with parents and other significant people and the therapist focuses on the client/therapist relationship (the dynamics) and in particular on the transference. Transference is when the client projects onto the therapist feelings experienced in previous significant relationships. The psychodynamic approach is derived from Psychoanalysis but usually provides a quicker solution to emotional problems.P

Solution-Focused Brief Therapy
This promotes positive change rather than dwelling on past problems. Clients are encouraged to focus positively on what they do well and to set goals and work out how to achieve them. As little as 3 or 4 sessions may be beneficial.

Systemic Therapies
These are the therapies that have, as their aim, a change in the transactional pattern of family members. It can be used as the generic term for family therapy and marital therapy.