There is a lot of different terminology that we use in therapy and when talking about therapy that we often fail to explain. In this post, I’ll be looking at some commonly used words and phrases explaining what they mean and hopefully clearing up any confusion about this therapy language.
Note: these are my definitions, other practitioners might use these words differently!
Therapy or counselling
A common question that I get is what the difference is between counselling and therapy. I use these words interchangeably depending on context and audience. In basic terms, counselling is a type of talk therapy. ‘Therapy’ is an umbrella term used to encompass several practices that are used to support people.
Some people talk about therapy being more in-depth or only for folks with more challenging presenting issues. This is not true in practice, clients come through the doors with a variety of experiences that we do not categorise based on any ‘severity’. The depth of the work carried out in both counselling and all forms of therapy is dependent on so many factors that it isn’t possible to claim that one practice goes deeper or is more meaningful than another.
Self-awareness
Another commonly used term which is a little vague. Self-awareness means understanding and recognising multiple parts of yourself, getting to know what makes you who you are. This could be getting to know your likes, dislikes, relationship patterns, values and aspects of identities. When I talk about increased self-awareness being a potential benefit of counselling, I mean that you’ll start to understand more about who you are and how you relate to yourself, others and the world.
Boundaries
In therapy, we talk about boundaries to refer to the terms of agreement for engaging in sessions. This will include decisions around the length and frequency of sessions, confidentiality and its limits, cancellation, and payment policies amongst other details. Sometimes it might seem like there are tonnes of boundaries in place, but rest assured that they are there to maintain psychological and physical safety for both the therapist and client.
Therapeutic alliance
Therapeutic alliance is the term used to describe the relationship between therapist and client. Sometimes we might refer to it as the ‘working alliance’ too. There is a lot that underpins the effectiveness and strength of the therapy relationship. Trust building, a sense of safety and power dynamics are a few elements determining what the relationship is like. Research has consistently shown that a good relationship is the most important indicator of good outcomes in therapy.
The process
‘Trust the process’ is a phrase thrown around and often directed at people who might be struggling with experiences in therapy but what is the process? It depends on the type of therapy being offered. Directive practices (those where there is a structure built into the sessions) have a fairly fixed process or step-by-step approach to sessions and the therapy work as a whole. Person-centred aligned practices are more dynamic with an emphasis on being led by the client. The process in sessions and overall is more free-flowing and might look a bit like a scribble! The idea of ‘trusting the process’ is asking for people to understand that it’s not a straight line through from having difficulties to feeling better, the journey is more complicated than that.
What other therapy or mental health related words do you find confusing or vague?
Commentaires