What makes Psychotherapy Different?

“The Patient who will not suffer pain fails to suffer pleasure.” Wilfred Bion 1970.

One of the best things about being a therapist is the demand for us to stay awake and alive. There is constant training meaning our development is always a work in progress.

What Makes a Psychotherapist?

Psychotherapy isn’t just a profession. You must become a psychotherapist rather than simply do psychotherapy. The non-behavioural psychotherapeutic interaction between a therapist and a client is one where therapists use regular and meaningful interactions with the client to bring awareness to their feelings and behaviours.

As therapists, we give everything in our minds, bodies, and intuition to try and get a sense of how our clients feel.

Jonathon Shedler, the American Psychotherapist and researcher, says “don’t ask what model your therapist practises but how much therapy they have had.”

For us, this is what makes psychotherapy different.

Why Do Psychotherapists Need Therapy?

It is through a therapist’s own therapy that we truly learn the practice of psychotherapy as this involves being challenged to reflect deeply on our own internal processes, avoidance and defence mechanisms. Through doing our own reflecting in therapy, we can relate further to our patients.

Personal therapy for psychotherapists helps to build professional identities. Practical experiences help us in becoming more efficient and have more insight other than theoretical knowledge. Having a therapeutic experience as a therapist has the potential to make a therapist more empathetic towards their patients.

Difference Between Counselling & Psychotherapy

Counselling involves two people working together to solve a problem. Counsellors offer guidance and support as a way to manage their life. Psychotherapy is a longer-term treatment that focuses more on gaining insight into emotional problems. It focuses on a person’s thought processes and how they might be influenced by past events.

Brighton and Hove Psychotherapy is a collective of experienced psychotherapists, psychologists and counsellors working with a range of client groups, including fellow therapists and health professionals. If you would like more information, or an informal discussion please get in touch. Online therapy is available.