A Guide to the Different Types of Counseling

The different types of counseling include specializations under the broad category of mental health counseling as well as family and marriage counseling, career counseling, school counseling, and, according to the American Counseling Association, other goal-focused areas of counseling that address wellness, career, and education milestones.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics categorizes counseling areas under the umbrella of “Counselors, Social Workers, and Other Community and Social Service Specialists.”

These categories include:

• Substance Abuse, Behavioral Disorder, and Mental Health Counselors
• Rehabilitation Counselors
• Marriage and Family Therapists
• Educational, Guidance, and Career Counselors and Advisors

These areas overlap in regard to industry, skill set, and education, but each has unique facets. For example, school counseling involves student populations, and the work settings for counselors employed in this area include elementary and secondary schools, colleges, universities, and other education institutions. Mental health counseling, on the other hand, may take place in outpatient care centers, substance abuse facilities, and psychiatric hospitals.

Counseling clients include people from diverse age groups and cultural and social backgrounds, including:

• Pediatric (children and adolescents)
• Geriatric
• Military personnel and veterans
• LGBTQ+ community members
• Victims of domestic abuse
• People who have experienced trauma

Counseling may involve individuals, couples, families, and groups and may address trauma, relationship problems, substance use disorders, grief, anxiety, depression, and other comorbid mental health disorders.

Like psychotherapy, types of counseling employ talk therapy and other modalities to alleviate symptoms of mental health disorders and to help clients understand and change negative patterns of behavior, achieve personal goals, and enjoy more satisfying relationships.

Although there are subtle differences between counseling and therapy, these mental health treatments overlap in significant ways, and both are designed to improve a patient’s quality of life. Therapies that are similar to the types of counseling discussed here include psychodynamic therapy, psychoanalytic therapy, cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), and holistic therapy.

The Main Types of Counseling

Counselors often implement one of the following common counseling methods but sometimes combine aspects from various modalities to find the most effective type of counseling.

Humanistic Counseling

Humanistic counseling is type of talk therapy based on the assumption that every individual is unique and has room to grow emotionally and psychologically. Rather than focus on life events, humanistic methods examine how a patient experiences those events, and in turn how those experiences make them feel. Humanistic counselors arm patients with the skills to work through their problems and find their own solutions.

An offshoot of humanistic counseling, client-centered counseling is based on the belief that people have the resources within them to cope with life’s difficulties. Thus, the counselor considers the client the expert on their own feelings and thoughts and assumes a supportive, and non-judgmental role, clarifying and reflecting the client’s observations and self-discovery.

Cognitive Counseling

Cognitive counseling, such as reality therapy and acceptance therapy, aligns a patient’s thinking with reality to challenge thinking patterns and bring them in line with reality so that patients can discover accurate solutions to their problems.

Behavioral Counseling

Behavioral counseling addresses unwanted behaviors, such as disordered eating, substance abuse, and gambling, by reinforcing desirable behaviors and mitigating undesirable or negative behaviors.

Constructionist

Constructionist counseling is based on the belief that knowledge is a constructed understanding of events in which the meaning a person makes of events shapes their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Constructionist counselors help clients change these problematic constructions of themselves, their relationships, and the world.

Systemic Counseling

Systemic counseling assumes that thinking, feeling, and behavior are formed and influenced by social systems. Since societal pressures are the focus, systemic counselors look at a person’s problems in relation to their role in their families and other social networks.

These counseling approaches can be effective for helping diverse client populations address a variety of short-term challenges, such as deciding on a career or educational path, as well as for treating chronic mental health disorders, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and disordered eating.

Regardless of the individual issue, client, or approach, the goal of each type of counseling is the same: helping people overcome problems and to allow them to live more fulfilling lives.

What Are the Different Types of Counselors?

Counselors all share the desire to help people live happier and more fulfilling lives by overcoming challenges and moving past setbacks, whether they’re mental, social, or behavioral. Licensed professional counselors may specialize in a certain area or population, or they may choose to practice as a generalist.

Mental Health Counselors

Mental health counselors work with clients to address specific issues affecting their mental well-being, such as depression, anxiety, or low self-esteem. This type of counselor will also often collaborate with other mental health professionals, including doctors and social workers, and refer clients to community resources and support groups.

There are hundreds of known mental illnesses that can affect mood, thinking, feeling, and behavior. Some of these mental illnesses are occasional and some chronic, some are caused by experiences or injuries and others by genetics or biology. They can all impact how a person functions in life and in society.

Types of Mental Health Disorders

• Anxiety disorders
  • Anxiety disorders include panic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, and phobias. In anxiety disorders, people respond to certain things with fear and dread.
• Mood disorders
  • Mood disorders include depression and bipolar disorder and often involve extreme fluctuations between periods of deep sadness and mania.
• Psychotic disorders
  • Psychotic disorders, such as schizophrenia, cause hallucinations, delusions, paranoia, and disconnection from reality.
• Eating disorders
  • Eating disorders are characterized by extreme behaviors, emotions, and attitudes toward food and body weight.
• Personality disorders
  • Personality disorders, according to the DSM-5-TR, cause deviant behaviors that are distressing to the patient and cause problems in their lives.
• Post-traumatic stress disorder
  • Not exclusive to military veterans, post-traumatic stress disorder affects people who have experienced a traumatic or terrifying event, often resulting in frightening and lasting thoughts of the event.
• Stress response syndrome
  • Also called adjustment disorder, stress response syndrome is characterized by extreme emotions and behaviors in response to stressful events.

These and other disorders can be managed by licensed mental health counselors (LMHC) who are trained in specific types of counseling.

What Are the Different Types of Counselors?

Counselors all share the desire to help people live happier and more fulfilling lives by overcoming challenges and moving past setbacks, whether they’re mental, social, or behavioral. Licensed professional counselors may specialize in a certain area or population, or they may choose to practice as a generalist.

Mental Health Counselors

Mental health counselors work with clients to address specific issues affecting their mental well-being, such as depression, anxiety, or low self-esteem. This type of counselor will also often collaborate with other mental health professionals, including doctors and social workers, and refer clients to community resources and support groups.

There are hundreds of known mental illnesses that can affect mood, thinking, feeling, and behavior. Some of these mental illnesses are occasional and some chronic, some are caused by experiences or injuries and others by genetics or biology. They can all impact how a person functions in life and in society.

Types of Mental Health Disorders

• Anxiety disorders
  • Anxiety disorders include panic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, and phobias. In anxiety disorders, people respond to certain things with fear and dread.
• Mood disorders
  • Mood disorders include depression and bipolar disorder and often involve extreme fluctuations between periods of deep sadness and mania.
• Psychotic disorders
  • Psychotic disorders, such as schizophrenia, cause hallucinations, delusions, paranoia, and disconnection from reality.
• Eating disorders
  • Eating disorders are characterized by extreme behaviors, emotions, and attitudes toward food and body weight.
• Personality disorders
  • Personality disorders, according to the DSM-5-TR, cause deviant behaviors that are distressing to the patient and cause problems in their lives.
• Post-traumatic stress disorder
  • Not exclusive to military veterans, post-traumatic stress disorder affects people who have experienced a traumatic or terrifying event, often resulting in frightening and lasting thoughts of the event.
• Stress response syndrome
  • Also called adjustment disorder, stress response syndrome is characterized by extreme emotions and behaviors in response to stressful events.

These and other disorders can be managed by licensed mental health counselors (LMHC) who are trained in specific types of counseling.