A Guide to Therapy
When it comes to seeking help for your mental health, there are lots of options available. A lot of our practitioners do a combination of psychotherapy and hypnotherapy, and some do other techniques which are outlined below.
You’ve probably discovered our directory because you’re looking for some kind of talking therapy, whether that be counselling, psychotherapy, or hypnotherapy. In this guide, we’ll talk about the differences and the benefits of each approach!
All talking therapy aims to address psychological issues and improve things in your life. Therapy should be carried out by a qualified and insured practitioner, and we advise you to choose one from a website like ours, where they have been properly assessed before being allowed to list their details.
Counselling & Psychotherapy are often terms which are interchangeable.
The primary goal of all counselling and psychotherapy is to facilitate positive change in a client’s life by exploring what’s happening in the here and now, and how events in the past may be contributing to any current thought patterns, behaviours, or beliefs.
Counselling and psychotherapy promote psychological wellbeing and address emotional and behavioural issues.
The primary goal of all counselling and psychotherapy is to facilitate positive change in a client’s life by exploring what’s happening in the here and now, and how events in the past may be contributing to any current thought patterns, behaviours, or beliefs.
Counselling and psychotherapy promote psychological wellbeing and address emotional and behavioural issues.
Psychodynamic therapy and psychoanalytic therapy seek to look back at previous events in your life to find clues within past experiences – such as family dynamics, how your childhood was, or any losses or traumas that may have occurred and how they may reflect into adulthood, even if your life has moved on from those situations.
When you go into psychotherapy sessions you will get to know yourself much better. Once you discover the triggers for your behaviours or feelings, it is much easier to put an adult perspective on them, and to be able to progress without the symptoms.
A lot of psychotherapy is educational for a client, so you can expect to learn about various functions of the brain, as well as the theories behind why we develop the way we do, emotionally speaking. Various tools and techniques can be introduced to show you how to alter the way you feel.
Despite counselling and psychotherapy being almost identical, some counsellors prefer to work in a way that is far more focused on what is happening for you in the ‘here and now’.
For example, therapists can work with Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) or other such techniques, taking you from point A- where you are in the current moment – and through helping you deal with what is happening, giving you effective coping strategies and tools, will help you reach point B- where you want to be in the future. This way you can develop new behaviours and thought patterns that allow you to live an improved and happier life.
Hypnotherapy is a somewhat different approach to psychotherapy and counselling. However, a lot of hypnotherapists combine different models of working and take parts of psychotherapy and counselling into their sessions, in order to help the client in a very fast and effective way.
Hypnotherapy, as the name suggests, is ‘hypnosis’ combined with ‘psychotherapy’.
A hypnotic state is induced in the client, often by gentle visualisation, guided imagery or metaphor and as the client relaxes, this shifts the focus of the mind from being in a fully conscious state, to accessing the subconscious mind.
Some hypnotherapists use suggestion work and others may use regression styles of working
Some of the other areas our therapists may work within:
Transactional Analysis (TA)
Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP)
Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT)
Thought Field Therapy (TFT)
Cognitive Behavioural Hypnotherapy (CBH)
Past Life Regression (PLR)
Timeline Therapy (TLT)
Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR)
BrainWorking Recursive Therapy® (BWRT)
Havening®
Counselling (CBT and other styles)
The working relationship you form with any therapist is of utmost importance, so we suggest that you look carefully at their profiles and see who may appeal to you, before phoning a few therapists to speak to them directly. Most therapists will offer a free telephone call or even some kind of short session free of charge, in order to discover what you need help with.