Rob Robson, Chartered Psychologist

Psychotherapy is the relief of distress or disability in one person by another. However, where psychotherapy differs from other forms of counselling or caregiving is that the agent in the situation, the psychotherapist, has had some formal training in providing such relief; and that such relief is built on a particular theory or approach. However, as psychotherapy doesn't necessarily follow medical theories in the treatment of specific symptoms, the term is sometimes used interchangeably with counselling.