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E-Quipped to... Appreciate the Difference Between Giving Advice and Psychotherapy

I recently had a conversation with a very caring and concerned father about his adult daughter who has suffered from anxiety for most of her life. On the whole she had always managed it well, but since the start of the first wave of the COVID pandemic her anxiety had spiralled out of control.

During the conversation it became clear to me that the family have been giving her all sorts of advice about what she should and shouldn’t be doing and because she was “Just not listening!” (The family’s point of view) it was causing family tensions to increase and the daughter’s anxiety to be exacerbated even further. It was a horrible situation for everyone.

This sort of situation is a common one, not only in family situations but in all sorts of relationships, and although the advice-giver does have the best of intentions, sometimes giving advice is just not helpful, and worse may even be detrimental.

The conversation made me think about the difference between giving advice and psychotherapy and the common misunderstanding that when it comes to psychotherapy the psychologist is there to give you advice and tell you what to do. It’s a misunderstanding because giving advice is not what psychologists actually do. A psychologist’s role is far more complex than that.

So what then is the difference between giving advice and psychotherapy? Below is a table which summarises the key differences:

Explore these differences in my article: Giving Advice Versus Psychotherapy

Download the free poster: Giving Advice Versus Psychotherapy – A Summary

Regards

About These Emails

You may have been forwarded this email by a friend. In that case, allow me to introduce myself. I am a psychologist, speaker, trainer, coach and hat lover based in Kloof, a suburb of Durban, South Africa. I also do online counselling and coaching and I have clients all over the world.

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