Counselling and Psychotherapy

Counselling & Psychotherapy
Does counselling actually work?

The question on many people’s lips is does counselling actually work or is it a complete waste of time?
Firstly, if you run a search online you will find thousands of messages and postings actually grumbling about how useless and pointless counselling is and that it doesn’t work.

Many complain and grumble about how useless the therapist actually was ot that they just sat there saying very little or just repeating what the client already knows which is they are suffering from such and such a state or condition and now they must address the underlying issues.

Or that the counsellor just made things worse and we client left feeling worse or in tears feeling angry and frustrated that they have to continue with their frustrating and or horrible feelings.

Before anyone praises or supports counselling as a be all and cure all, you must be aware of all the negative and critical comments about counselling and about the counsellors that are being made by dissatisfied and upset clients. This is a reality.

In thousands of message forums around the world there are comments and postings of the most negative kind from people who are completely dissatisfied with their sessions in counselling and how a worthless waste of money counselling is for them.

So now the question is, does counselling actually work? The answer is absolutely yes for most people but not for all.

There are people that will never recover from their troubled states for many reasons and no matter what; no counselling will help them resolve their problems.

There are many reasons for this including unmet or unrealistic expectations, inability to understand what is required of them in the session, lack of corporation, impossible to build rapport with the client or the client just constantly makes the counsellor feel uncomfortable due to negativity, criticism or refusal to budge from their current state.

So yes, there are always going to be people who counselling will not work for including many more reasons which are not included here.

On the whole, for the majority of people counselling is excellent and does work. Counselling is a corporative process that requires good communication between client and counsellor and to put it simply the client has to be open to some change and open to feedback, ideas and suggestions.

Stubbornness, negativity and criticism and resistance to change are some of the things which will make counselling difficult. Understandably some people are going through terrible times of suffering and pain and there are many people who just cannot change or be open to change from any counsellor.

The definition of counselling is the provision of professional help and emotional or psychological guidance of personal and mental problems.

Many people find themselves at some point of difficulty in their life and decide to undertake counselling usually because their circumstances have become unbearable or intolerable and they need a professional person to assist in a detached way as opposed to knowing the person they are talking to such as family members.

The counsellor is someone who is friendly and caring and is motivated to make change and improvements in the client for all the right reasons using various counselling skills and approaches. Often a client enters into a counselling session over a period of time for the purpose of exploring personal difficulties which are often outside the immediate control of the client and include the releasing of pent up emotions and feelings or disturbances around family or work and relationships.

The counsellor will help to provide feedback and interpretation from one or more differing angles of view or landscapes which can allow new fresh ways of viewing things including feelings and experiences with the intention of changing behaviours leading to a greater sense of well being, optimism, positive change and a reduction in the negative feelings and emotions or ways of thinking that brought the client to the counsellor in the first place.

Whichever way you look at it when you are sitting in front of the counsellor together you will unpack things by talking about what is on your mind and how that is making you feel.

Most counsellors are sensitive and aware of how uncomfortable the first time a client entering into counselling feels and will usually go to great lengths to make the client feel as comfortable as possible by talking in a way that will put them at ease.

A relationship between counsellor and client will start to build and will include rapport, trust, confidentiality and a sense of security along with a friendship and a sense of friendship which will be real and can be relied upon.

When you first experience counselling, your counsellor will often be gentle, calm and relaxed and be aware that you are unique and listen to you very carefully.

The aim of the counsellor is to allow you to feel safe and comfortable in the presence of that person enabling you to simply feel free and comfortable to talk about how you’re feeling. This is paramount to the success of the counselling session that you are able to talk. If you can talk openly without the negativity as described at the start of his page, then change and healing can occur.

The counsellor will encourage you to explore individual and/or separate parts of your life and look at which parts are conflicted and help you to approach and confront troublesome areas. Like opening doors to darkened rooms you feel uncomfortable about opening and walking into to examine things in there that might be in the dark or dimly lit so that they can be brought out of that dark place into the light so that a fresh look can be placed upon them enabling them to be seen in new and different ways with the help of that counsellor.

Further information on a recommend counselling book can be located on Amazon.

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