Skip to content
Home » Counselling

Counselling

The Distinctions Between an Anxiety Specialist, General Therapist, and Coach

An anxiety specialist is a mental health professional with dedicated training and experience in diagnosing and treating anxiety disorders using specialised, evidence-based therapies like CBT and ACT. Their focus is on alleviating anxiety symptoms, understanding underlying patterns, and developing long-term coping strategies. Psychiatrist anxiety specialists can also prescribe medication. A general therapist provides therapy for a wider range of mental health concerns, including anxiety, but lacks the specific, in-depth expertise of an anxiety specialist. A coach concentrates on helping clients achieve specific goals and improve performance, without the therapeutic training to address anxiety disorders. Choosing the right support depends on the individual’s needs, with an anxiety specialist being the most appropriate choice for significant or persistent anxiety.

The Best Treatment for Anxiety: A Personalised Approach

To determine the best treatment for anxiety, consider the following:

ACT is ideal for those caught in experiential avoidance, helping them accept inner experiences and commit to valued actions.
SFBT suits individuals preferring a future-focused, strengths-based approach to build positive emotions and solutions.
Psychodynamic Therapy Aims to address possibly unrecognised reasons for anxiety
NLP offers tools for reprogramming the mind and managing thought patterns, but requires active engagement and may not address root causes.

Benefits of Private Anxiety Counselling

Private anxiety counselling offers individualised treatment from an experienced therapist. This creates a safe space to develop skills and strategies, like CBT, ACT and DBT to manage stress, address the underlying causes of anxiety and improve well-being.

What to Expect From Anxiety Counselling and Why People Are Seeking Alternatives

Anxiety counselling typically involves a detailed look at your symptoms, a deep dive into your past patterns, and the teaching of new skills such as mindfulness and defusion techniques. It will likely involve some discomfort as you learn to sit with uncomfortable thoughts and sensations. The process aims to help you identify your values and take action towards a more meaningful life, even when you experience anxiety. However, people may choose coaching or Havening because of a preference for a more forward-focused, solution oriented approach that avoids a medical model. Coaching offers clients practical tools to increase performance and reach work goals, while Havening is a self-help technique that offers a content-free way of overcoming difficulties. Both coaching and Havening can offer a shorter term, client led approach that appeals to those who want a different experience to traditional anxiety counselling.