1. What is Counseling - What is Therapy - How are they Different?
Counseling — Is a short term undertaking (10 sessions or less), in which the counselor helps you address a specific issue or problem - such as a relational problem, career choice, or financial problem, as well as such things as mild anxiety or mild depression. The counselor helps you identify your strengths, resources and positive qualities that you can bring to bear on the issue.
A professional counselor has the resources and educational background that can help in clarifying and prioritizing your needs and wants; improving communication skills; examining interpersonal ways of relating and seeing issues from a different perspective, as well as uncovering buried talents and potential latent skills.
Therapy — Is often a longer process (Anywhere from 15 to 25 sessions) in which the counselor/therapist helps you explore "why you do what you do" and "why you are who you are".
Specific issues such as Depression, Anxiety, Phobias and long-term personality disorders are often the focus of therapy, as are marriage and family dysfunction's. (A dysfunction is any emotion, feeling, thought or behavior that prevents you from living and functioning at what you, personally, feel to be your potential)
Therapy is thus more of an inward journey than is counseling. It can begin as counseling, addressing a specific issue, but then evolve into therapy as life-shaping interpersonal issues emerge.
Therapy typically falls under one of the following formats:
- Individual
- Marital or Couple Family
- Child (Development)
- Addiction (even though it is often called "addiction counseling" the process is much more intense than short term counseling)
Therapy looks at the inner workings of the individual, examining what was shaped, how it was shaped, why and by whom. Each of us holds on to a set of "Core Beliefs" about life, God, and our world in general.
These essential, core beliefs shape our interaction with the world around us as well as our day-to-day attitudes. They shape the assumptions we make about people, careers, life in general. It is the function of the therapist to help you, first of all find and clarify these core beliefs, then to see how they shape your behavior, and - with this awareness, explore new ways of acting and behaving.
2. How Does Professional Counseling and Therapy Differ From Inner Healing Prayer Ministry?
First of all, a professional counselor/therapist has - as a minimum - a Master's level degree in psychology and counseling. They are considered to be part of the Mental Health community and required to be registered with a professional body responsible for a code of ethics and ensuring that the counselor/therapist has proper malpractice insurance coverage, as well as ongoing supervision. Continued education through courses and workshops is also a requirement.
The professional counsel/therapist is trained in the use of various diagnostic tests for such things as depression, anxiety, personality traits and temperament analysis. Professional counselors and therapists are also recognized by the various Health Care Insurance providers, thus allowing the client to sometimes be reimbursed for the session fees.
Inner Healing Prayer Ministry is a specific style of counseling, practiced by both professional and lay Christian counselors. It is an approach wherein the Holy Spirit guides the counselor and client to the source - or root - of inner wounding. However, lay counselors generally are not trained in the use of diagnostic tools that detect serious mental health problems.
3. Which Should I Choose?
Lay counseling / Inner Healing Counseling is often provided free of charge through the Church community. If you are experiencing difficulty with decision making, or relational problems, or spiritual issues, I would suggest starting with a lay counselor or pastor.
However, prayer ministry and lay counseling has its limitations and if your problem - such as depression or anxiety - continues to persist (more than 4 months), it is suggested you seek a mental health professional.
Actually, I frequently recommend a "treatment alliance" involving the client's church (lay counselor), personal physician, and a professional therapist, as well as, a psychiatrist if psychopharmacological treatment is involved (such as antidepressants or anti anxiety medication).