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Other Approaches to Therapy

For any one seeking help for mental or emotional distress it can be very confusing understanding the various professions. There are a range of professions each with their own methods and styles. This is a very brief outline of the distinctions between the various professions in NZ. The therapists on this site offer both counselling and psychotherapeutic approaches

Psychotherapists

Psychotherapy is deeply respectful of each individual's inner mental and emotional life. The focus of psychotherapy is discovering unconscious foundations of unhelpful patterns and using these insights to build new skills and capacities. The work tends to focus on exploring the influences of childhood on our relationships with each other and the world. These influences are made meaningful in the light of our current relationship dynamics including those with the therapist. As such it has faith in the potential for self development and healing given the conditions of a ongoing, empathic and secure relationship between therapist and client. Like all health professionals psychotherapists practice under the HPCAA (Health Practitioners Competency Assurance Act). Psychotherapists are required to be registered with PBANZ (Psychotherapy Board of Aotearoa New Zealand).

Counsellors

There is a large overlap between the work of counsellors and psychotherapists. There is no clear distinction between the two professions however they do tend to have different training, different theoretical emphasis and are governed by different professional bodies. Counsellors have a wide range of training from brief training such as volunteers for phone line counselling through to post graduate qualifications. While many counsellors work long term and in depth many tend to work shorter term and with more focus on the present and future than the past. There are a number of professional bodies, NZAC (NZ Association of Counsellors) and the NZACC (NZ Association of Christian Counsellors) and DAAPNZ (Drug and alcohol counsellors) but currently no government registration requirements.

Psychoanalysts

Psychoanalysts are psychotherapists with a traditional Freudian training.

Psychiatrists

Psychiatrists are doctors with a specialist training in mental illness. They predominantly offer drug therapies but some combine this with psychotherapy. Only doctors or psychiatrists can prescribe drugs (i.e. anti depressants).

Clinical Psychologists

Clinical psychologists generally have a masters degree in psychology and post graduate training in clinical psychology. They are not doctors and cannot prescribe medication however they also have expertise in testing, assessment and diagnosis. Their usual treatment approach is called CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy). This focuses on the influence of thoughts (cognition) on feelings and behaviour. There professional body is the NZ Psychological Association and they are required to be registered with the NZ Psychologists Board.

Find a Therapist

Learn more about Issues we deal with, Counselling Services we offer, see a map of Therapist Locations or find Auckland Therapist by suburb.