{"id":19,"date":"2019-02-23T15:08:35","date_gmt":"2019-02-23T14:08:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/18.185.92.33\/?p=19"},"modified":"2025-06-23T19:51:09","modified_gmt":"2025-06-23T17:51:09","slug":"whats-the-difference-between-counselling-and-psychotherapy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/complicated.life\/blog\/whats-the-difference-between-counselling-and-psychotherapy\/","title":{"rendered":"What Is The Difference Between Counselling and Psychotherapy?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Wondering what the exact difference between counselling and psychotherapy is? This article will help you to address this question, whether you are a practitioner or someone who is looking to start your therapy journey. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amongst foreigners working as mental health care practitioners in Berlin, it\u2019s common knowledge that even if they have trained to be a certain kind of psychotherapist in their home country, German legal intricacies mean they can\u2019t just call themselves psychotherapists when promoting their therapeutic services. Instead, the go-to title for those who want to be on the safe side is \u201ccounsellor\u201d. Why is this?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To get a better grasp on the difference between counselling and psychotherapy\u200a\u2014\u200aand why it\u2019s only a very specific subset of practitioners who are able to say that they practice psychotherapy\u200a\u2014\u200alet\u2019s look at how the two kinds of services are defined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Counselling<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Counselling is usually defined as a private conversation aimed at solving one or more specific problems. This type of conversation can be carried out face-to-face, over phone, or through email. There are counsellors and counselling centres within certain fields of work, e.g. marriage counselling, drug \/ addiction counselling, educational counselling, but also targeted more general, personal issues such as life counselling, systemic counselling, coaching, and psychological counselling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Especially when you compare psychological counselling with psychotherapy, it\u2019s not possible to completely separate the content and the method of the service. However, a general rule is that, in contrast to psychotherapy, counselling services should not treat any mental disorders of pathological value\u200a\u2014\u200awhich is also why the costs aren\u2019t covered by the health insurance. But then the question of course becomes: where do we draw the line between \u201cnormal\u201d mental difficulties and mental disorders of pathological value? Because the line is blurry, this means that the overlap between psychological counselling and psychotherapy is significant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Terms such as \u201cpsychological counsellor\u201d, \u201cpsychological coach\u201d, \u201csystemic counsellor\u201d, or \u201clife coach\u201d are not legally protected in Germany\u200a\u2014\u200aso it is not specified which requirements must be met for someone to be allowed to use these titles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Often counsellors will be graduate psychologists and refer to professional titles like \u201cDiplom-Psychologe\u201d, \u201cDipl.-Psych.\u201d, \u201cPsychologe M.Sc.\u201d. In Germany, like in most places, these titles are protected by law and may only be used if someone has completed a degree in psychology. Frequently also graduate pedagogues or graduated social workers work in the field of psychological counselling. These graduates have completed a degree in social science , but they are taught less comprehensively about psychological skills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Furthermore, being a member of a professional association can ensure that the counsellor is committed to a specific professional ethos and regularly participates in further education. Certificates awarded by such professional associations indicate that certain quality standards (e.g content and duration of training, conditions for participation, completion of certain modalities) have been met during training. However, these standards vary depending on the association or training institute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Psychological psychotherapists<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Psychological psychotherapists are graduate psychologists who have trained as psychotherapists. In their education, they have acquired comprehensive knowledge of the diagnosis and treatments of mental disorders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The training courses are regulated throughout Germany by the\u00a0Training and Examination Regulations for Psychological Psychotherapists and for Child and Adolescent Psychotherapists<\/em>. They must take place at a state-recognised training institute and be completed with a state examination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The training lasts three to five years and focuses on one of three modalities: psychodynamic psychotherapy, psychoanalysis, and behavioural therapy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since the end of 2018, systemic therapy has also been recognised as a fourth modality, meaning that now aspiring psychological psychotherapists can also train in systemic therapy. However, a license to practice systemic therapy is only possible in Berlin and North Rhine-Westphalia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As said previously, there are many similarities between psychological counselling and psychological psychotherapy, and there are many problems that would benefit from both services. But in Germany, while the terms \u201cpsychological counsellor\u201d and \u201cpsychological counselling\u201d aren\u2019t legally protected, the title \u201cpsychological psychotherapist\u201d require that a graduate psychological have undertaken extensive training at a state-recognised training institute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This blog post is based on information from therapie.de<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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