General Practitioners
'Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced'.
James Baldwin, Notes of a Native Son.
Referring to the publication of the Department of Health (19 th of February 2001) “Treatment Choice in Psychological Therapies and Counselling” I am aware of the importance of psychological therapies and counselling.
A significant proportion of consultations with GPs are related to mental health problems. Current evidence suggests that counselling can be useful in the treatment of mild to moderate mental health problems in the short-term (up to 6 months).
Psychotherapy/Counselling.
Psychotherapy/Counselling is defined as a systematic process which gives individuals an opportunity to explore, discover and clarify ways of living more resourcefully, with a greater sense of well-being. Psychotherapy/Counselling may be concerned with addressing and resolving specific problems, making decisions, coping with crises, working through conflict, or improving relationships with others.
A systematic review of counselling recognised counselling as a useful benchmark in primary care.
The results of six RCTs (with 772 patients) indicated that counselled patients demonstrated a significant greater reduction in psychological symptoms such as anxiety and depression than patients receiving usual GP care when followed up in the short-term (up to 6 months). The average counselled patient was better off than approximately 60% of patients in usual GP care (if counselling and usual care were equally effective, the proportion would be 50%.
Is counselling cost-effective ?
Two studies showed that the provision of counselling has been associated with increases in some costs in the short-term. However, in the long-term, the overall costs to the NHS and society associated with counselling appeared to be broadly similar to those incurred when patients received usual GP care. It may be that patients under the care of counsellors reduce their use of other NHS recourses (such as consultations with the GP, anti-depressant medication and specialist mental health services).
( Quoted from: “Effectiveness Matters” (Vol 5, Issue 2, August 2001) from the University of York ).
As a qualified accredited practitioner with the United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy and the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy, I offer Time Limited Existential Therapy and short term Integrative Therapy, including CBT and Solution Focussed.
Janet Joosten.