AboutAlan Auerbach Expertise Taught psychology for 30 years, authored four textbooks. Specialize in introductory and industrial/organizational psychology, but will tackle wider range of areas.
Expert: Alan Auerbach Date: 3/14/2007 Subject: Questions
Question Hello. I have a couple of parts to my question. First, could you please define the difference, if any, between psychiatry, psychology, psychotherapy, therapy and counseling? Secondly, when is it appropriate for a person, specifically a couple, to seek some sort of counseling? I ask because my girlfriend and I are having a disagreement about this. I feel that running to a third party to solve every little problem and disagreement is itself a form of unhealthy behavior, and only encourages dependency and weakness. She feels that even small problems should be dealt with by "professionals" before they become big ones. What do you think? Can a person be addicted to therapy?
Answer Hello Johann
Psychiatry is a specialty area in medicine; a physician can specialize in disorders of the skin, the lungs, or in this case of the brain and mind. Psychology is the science of behavior. In psychotherapy (the application of treatment mainly by talking), what some psychologists do can overlap with what some psychiatrists do. Therapy is a general term that can mean psychotherapy or physical therapy. Counseling is giving advice, and counselors generally (or in some jurisdictions) have weaker training and credentials.
When one or both of the partners think it might help. To the contrary: going to a third party with minor issues can teach the partners how to solve their issues, so that when a major one comes along they will have the tools to deal with it. Problems themselves are not the problems. The problems are not dealing with them constructively.
You can be addicted to anything. I've not heard of therapy addiction, and if it showed up, the therapist would be trained to recognize and advise about it.
I suggest you go together after finding one with appropriate credientials and experience, and that you mention your diffidence at the outset.
Hope that helps a bit. Thanks for asking us, and good luck with these issues. If it helps, no relationship is trouble-free, and resolving issues efficiently, pleasantly, and satisfactorily is a skill that can be learned. (Between us, I think that might be a better goal for you than getting the immediate problem resolved, but I wouldn't mention that out loud because it could be interpreted as making light of the present problem. So deal with what's hot at the moment. You'll soon enough forget what the issue was, but you won't forget the skills acquired in handling it.)
