The Terms - The Connotations

The terms counseling and psychotherapy are used interchangeably, though both have different connotations. A person with day to day issues who wants some clarity about such issues to get around might turn up to a counselor whereas a person who needs something to do with his personality or who is worried about his coping skills or emotional stability might require psychotherapy.

A psychotherapist is more inclined to follow the medical model using diagnosis-treatment-prognosis route to help the client. A counselor relies more on analytical methods to give some clarity to the issue. Most of the practitioners are, in fact, counselors as well as psychotherapists. It all depends on the nature of issues that a client brings in - whether the practitioner needs to take the clinical route or analytical route.