Analyse the Similarities and Differences Between Psychotherapy and Counselling Practises Using Evidence

Analyse the similarities and differences between Psychotherapy and Counselling practises using evidence, aims and objectives relevant to practice and therapeutic need.
Firstly we have to acknowledge the fact that it can be quite difficult to distinguish the difference between the two practises, it is a continuous debate between professional bodies with some insisting the two are very different and others that they are very similar. To put a pin point on exactly where the two differentiate you could suggest that Psychotherapy is the practise of re-organising the personality and helps an individual to put new insights into everyday life, it aids clients in reaching their full potential and develop a better coping mechanism against problems in their life. Counselling can be seen as helping a client to realise their problems and to overcome their obstacles to develop their own personal growth, helping them to deal with any transitions in life and to help them talk comfortably about their emotions, and thoughts they have been unable to express beforehand. Anna Martin writing for The Counsellors Guide states “The key difference between the two courses of therapeutic communication treatment lies in the recommended time required to see benefits. Counselling usually refers to a brief treatment that centres around behaviour patterns. Psychotherapy focuses on working with clients for a longer-term and draws from insight into emotional problems and difficulties”.
Differences
One of the main differences is that Psychotherapy usually spans out over a much longer period of time than that of counselling, it involves a greater depth of work and clients can be asked to see their therapist on a far more regular basis. This is not to say that counselling cannot last for a long period however it is considered to be a much shorter form of therapy, in some cases only lasting one session.   Nancy Schimelpfening writing on this matter for about.com states “In the context of mental...