What is Counselling?

This year I've decided to write about counselling generally. What is counselling what are the different methods of counselling? What makes a good counsellor and how to choose one that can get the best results for you. As I did in my last blog about Family and Relationships I will include topics based on questions that you ask me either on my facebook page, in person or in the comments below. This week I hope to clear up the question of what counselling is and what you might expect. In short my answer to this question is; Counselling is a series of important conversations with the joint aim being a professional assisting you to live your life with good mental health and confidence in the direction your life takes now and in the future.

What happens in a counselling session? It may seem an easily answered question however, there are a lot of misconceptions about what counselling is.  I guess the first image that pops into the minds of many of us is Zigmond Freud with his patient lying on a couch, he sitting in a chair. Ink blot pictures and dream analysis. The counsellor seen as an expert of your mind and you a novice come to understand what is going wrong and the counsellor  providing the answers to your internal questionings about that mind of yours. "What's wrong? Fix it." I suppose this a reasonable thing to want. When we go to other Doctors or professionals that is actually what we get. We get a fix it solution either in the form of antibiotics or painkillers. When people come for counselling they have reached a point where they just have no idea what to do, their life may be unraveling before them or they just can't function in the way they use to.  It would probably be better if people came to their counsellor when things were just starting to go a bit pear shaped rather than waiting for things to get very bad.

Counselling is a process even way back when Freud was practicing it was a process.  The process is a little different now. If you go to counselling you probably won't be shown inkblot pictures you probably won't have your dreams analysed.  Although you might if you came to see me.  Most likely you won't be delving into your childhood and making links to your current circumstances. Most counsellors and psychologist will be working with you in the here and now. They won't be interested in  delving deeply into your past. They may ask questions about particular things in your past like how you get along in the family. They will be setting up some kind of CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) program for you to follow. Your Counselling will probably last about 10 weeks and you may never see your counsellor again. That's because CBT gets results quickly. Results that are quantifiable that can be recorded, sent to the government to show that counselling gets results.  That's what everyone wants results. They want them fast.

What do I think about this.  Great if it gets results that's awesome.  Are the results permanent? Is it providing long lasting results? Getting the statistics on these kind of questions is really difficult because as I said earlier most people only come for those 10 weeks and never come back again. Practices may not have the time to do follow ups later.  Clients may not want to spend the time coming back just to give data. To be really honest I'm not a big fan of the quick fix therapy. I think counselling should be a longer process and it should be monitored over several years. I think it should aim to provide some solutions but also some questions. It should be something that makes people cognitively stronger, give them skills to improve their life that lasts for the rest of their lives. It should also provide a space for real personal growth which may or may not require some delving deeply into the past.  It shouldn't be a weekly thing it should be as required by the client. I think the most important thing that counselling should provide is important meaningful conversations that lead to happier lives being lived.

The bottom line is that the best counselling is highly dependent on two things the first thing is how well you get along with the counsellor and the second thing is the amount of effort you are prepared to put into changing your situation.  I think your counsellor should be like your GP you should get a good one and keep going there for check-ups as a preventative measure.  The reason I think this way is Mental Health is a serious matter we have 1 in 4 people in Australia with depression and anxiety. We have a high rate of suicide in young people aged between 16 and 24. In Australia we have men over 50 years of age committing suicide at an astounding rate. Marriages have more chance of failing than succeeding with many of us choosing not to Marry at all. We live in a country where women are killing themselves with eating disorders. The rate of women dying and being treated for eating disorders who are classified as middle aged has increased in recent years.


These are things that counselling can help with. It would be much better if everyone went for counselling before they developed anorexia or when they first started feeling sad or when they felt their marriage was showing signs of trouble rather than as a last resort.  It doesn't matter if your counsellor is a psychologist, psychiatrist or counsellor. The important thing is that you get along well with the person and feel confident that you can share your problems with them.  Next week I will talk about the difference between psychologist, psychiatrist and counsellors.

References

Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2010, June 30). Population Growth: Past, Present and Future. Retrieved August 10, 2014, from Australian Bureau of Statistics: http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Lookup/4102.0Main+Features10Jun+2010

Corey, G. (2009). Theory and Practice of Counselling and Psychotherapy. Belmont CA: Brooks/Cole.

Gerald, D., & Gerald, K. (2001). Basic Personal Counselling. Frenchs Forest NSW: Pearson Education Australia.