Question 2: What is the difference
between the words "counselor," "therapist", and "psychotherapist?"
A:
They used to mean approximately the same thing. In Washington state the word "counseling
" is a legally defined word. The title one goes by--social worker, psychotherapist, mediator--makes no difference. If what the person DOES falls within the legal definition of
counseling, the person must be registered, certified, or licensed by the Washington State Department of Health, Counselors Section, P.O. Box 1099, Olympia, Washington 98507-0199.
Unchanged by the new 2008 law:
"Counseling" means employing any therapeutic techniques,
including but not limited to social work, mental health counseling,
marriage and family therapy, and hypnotherapy, for a fee that offer,
assist or attempt to assist an individual or individuals in the
amelioration or adjustment of mental, emotional, or behavioral
problems, and includes therapeutic techniques to achieve sensitivity
and awareness of self and others and the development of human
potential. For the purposes of this chapter, nothing may be
construed to imply that the practice of hypnotherapy is necessarily
limited to counseling.
"Counselor" means an individual, practitioner,
therapist, or analyst who engages in the practice of counseling to the public for a fee, including for the purposes of this chapter, hypnotherapists.
[So apparently counselor and therapist are interchangeable.]
"Psychotherapy" (defined for the first time, effective July
1st, 2009) means the practice of counseling using diagnosis of
mental disorders according to the fourth edition of the diagnostic
and statistical manual of mental disorders, published in 1994, and
the development of treatment plans for counseling based on diagnosis
of mental disorders in accordance with established practice
standards. [See DSM IV.]
RCW 18.19.030: Registration required.
No person may, for a fee or as a part of his or her position as an employee of a state agency, practice counseling without being registered to practice by the department
under this chapter unless exempt under RCW
18.19.040.
"Registered Counselors" under the 2008 credentialing
law is an endangered species,
due to
totally disappear on July 1, 2010.
----Floyd Else, MA, LMHC
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