Talking therapy - does it work?

Following on from my recent post, I'd like to look at the next question on my list:

Does talking therapy work?

It would seem that the obvious way to find an answer to this is to ask people who've made use of talking therapy. But this is tricky - confidentiality being key to therapy, many clients prefer not to make their experiences of therapy public. And, sadly, there is still some stigma around seeking this kind of help.

However, there are some offerings out there...Take a look at the following :

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/dec/29/counselling-therapy-anxiety-depression-university

https://www.theguardian.com/education/mortarboard/2014/jul/22/university-counselling-really-helped-me

And watch:

Hello and welcome to marypascallcounselling

Thank you for visiting my site and taking a look at my blog. This space is for sharing information about talking therapy, which I hope will be useful to you, If you're thinking about talking therapy and have a few questions, perhaps you'll find some answers here.

The big questions appear to be:

Does talking therapy work?

If so, how?

How do I find a good therapist?

How much does it cost?

Over the coming days, I'm going to try to answer all of the above.

But first, I think it's important to ask:

What is talking therapy?

Some of you might think this is self-explanatory. Well, yes, if you put it simply and say, it's when you talk through personal difficulties during a timed session with a therapist to bring about a positive change.

From my experience, there's a little more to it. Talking therapy usually refers to counselling and psychotherapy. The two terms can be interchangeable. However, counselling is sometimes viewed as a short-term talking therapy, whilst psychotherapy is often applied to longer-term work for deeper emotional issues.

Under the umbrella of talking therapy there are many modalities or approaches.

Under the umbrella of talking therapy there are many modalities or approaches. A counsellor or psychotherapist may choose to work with one approach or draw from several different approaches to deliver a style of talking therapy which, ideally, can be tailored to suit a client's needs. Over time names have been given to some of the styles used, but more on this later...