Types of Counselling & Psychotherapy

This section provides some background on a few of the different types of counselling and psychotherapy available today, a brief summary of the history of the area, and some notes on empirical research about the effectiveness of different types of counselling. Another section provides more in-depth 'critical engagements' with particular areas of counselling.

History of Counselling & Psychotherapy

The section on History describes the development of the field after Freud's pioneering contributions at the end of the 19th and start of the 20th centuries. While psychological therapies all trace part or all of their historical roots back to Freud, many modern therapeutic approaches are now much more firmly grounded in other bodies of thought which emerged after Freud.

Comparing Therapeutic Effectiveness

Contrary to recent high-profile (but under-researched) commentary in UK tabloids and radio, there is a huge body of empirical evidence supporting the effectiveness of counselling and psychotherapy for addressing many different kinds of psychological distress. The section on Comparing Effectiveness summarizes some of the main conclusions emerging from this research evidence.

Therapeutic Approaches

Several pages of this section explore in greater depth different approaches to counselling and therapy. Each introduction includes notes on the underlying theory of a given type of counselling or psychotherapy, its general clinical approach, notes on how the approach fits with different types of clients, some criticisms, and suggestions for further reading or discussion.

This section also includes two documents covering both 'traditional' approaches and 'alternative' approaches, as seen through the eyes of the US government's National Mental Health Information Center.

'Critical Engagements'

This section provides 'critical engagements' with different types of counselling and psychotherapy, or with specific theoretical or practical issues on which different types of counselling disagree. Typically more academic in nature than other materials on this site, critical engagements assume some familiarity with the types of counselling being considered.

Mental Health Glossaries

Finally, a general mental health glossary provides definitions for some of the most commonly used terms in mental health, while a smaller second glossary focuses specifically on the mental health needs of children and adolescents.