Therapy and Counseling are two words that are often confused as words that denote the same meaning. Strictly speaking, there is some difference between the two words. The word ‘therapy’ is used in the sense of ‘treatment’ as in the expressions, ‘music therapy’, ‘Yoga therapy’ and the like. On the other hand, the word ‘counseling’ is used in the sense of ‘psychoanalysis’. This is the main difference between the two words.
It is important to know that counseling is all about advice. It is the psychoanalysis of a person in a bid to help him out of difficult situations in life. Counseling is in fact needed at various levels of human life. A student needs counseling in college or university, a budding employee needs counseling in the workplace, and a married couple sometimes needs counseling to set things right.
On the other hand, therapy is nothing but treatment meant to set right the body condition or the physical condition against the attack of diseases or ailments. Yoga therapy aims at the concentration of the mind because the mind is the root cause of all distress. Hence, the mind has to be kept in balance at all times. The word ‘therapy’ is used in the other words such as ‘physiotherapy’ and ‘music therapy’.
On the other hand, counseling does not amount to treating a person, but it amounts to guiding a person towards the understanding of life and its challenges. Counseling helps a person to regain the lost confidence. Therapy on the other hand, helps a person to regain his lost health.
In other words, it can be said that counseling shapes up the attitude towards life, whereas therapy shapes up the health of a person. These are the important differences between the two words, namely, therapy and counseling.