What is the difference between "general chat" and "psychological counseling"?

"Ordinary people chatting among themselves about their lives."

"Counseling gives people the understanding and encouragement they need to grow."

If you say, "It's annoying. Xiaohong keeps putting her hand on my desk and I can't concentrate on my work,"

[General chat]

"Just tell her to put her hand back."

"But I'm a bit embarrassed to say it."

"There's no reason to be embarrassed. If I were in your shoes, I'd just come out and say it. It's all part of the process."

"..."

"Your current classmates are just passing through. Once you've finished your current stage, it'll be tough to catch up again. It's not often you get to have a meal together!"

And you still feel embarrassed to say it, while feeling even more suffocated inside. You continue to be troubled by this matter.

[Psychological counseling]

"You're upset because you can't have the whole table to yourself when you're writing, right? You're annoyed that Xiaohong crosses over your desk and uses your desk, aren't you?"

"Yes, she really is annoying. I quickly put my hand down on the placeholder, but she actually had the nerve to put her arm over naturally.

It's really hard for me to concentrate in class. I can't keep my hands on my desk the whole time, right? And I have to reach across the table to get things.

But as soon as I take my hands off her, she naturally comes over to me! Even when I keep my hands on her, she comes over to me.

"I'm really annoyed."

"It seems you're really annoyed, unable to concentrate in class, and having to keep an eye on your arms occupying your desk!"

"Yes! Absolutely!"

I'm really struggling. I need to find a solution!

"But I'm really embarrassed to say it."

"You're torn, aren't you? You want to tell her directly, but you're also embarrassed."

"Hey, yeah. What do you think would be a more relaxed way for me to say this?"

"If I were you, I'd start by saying it with a smile and in a cheerful tone. Then, I'd prepare the groundwork before saying it. You could say, 'It feels so cramped. I can't put my left hand down during class, and it's suffocating. After writing for a long time, my left shoulder aches, and it's so suffocating!'"

If she knows about it, she'll take care of it herself. If not, you can just say, "It's a bit crowded, you can put your hand over there!"

"

"That's a great idea! I'll do that in my afternoon class!"

"If you have any questions, just let me know."

Hello, Thank you for calling. I'm learning about consulting and I can see some of your confusion. There are still clear differences between the two.

1. Different purposes

You can chat with friends anytime, anywhere. You can also chat with a counselor anytime, anywhere. People seek counseling because they have problems they can't talk about with friends or family. They hope to find solutions through counseling.

2. More professional.

Chatting with a friend may involve one person talking and the other listening, or one person talking about their problems and the other opening up about theirs. At the end of the day, they may have shared more than before. Unlike chatting with a friend, a counselor will always put the client first and use professional techniques to help you express your views and current situation, so that you can find the root cause of the problem and then find a solution.

3. Different time limits

You can chat with friends as long as you like. If you don't want to chat anymore, you can stop. Consulting has a clear time limit.

4. Counseling is paid. Chatting is free.

The counselor pays for a certain amount of time, but there is no charge for chatting.

5. Different ethical standards

Counseling is protected by law and bound by many ethics. Chats with clients are confidential, as long as they don't involve harming others or breaking the law.

Visitor privacy is protected.

Finally, I'll talk about boundaries.

No matter what kind of relationship you're in, there's always the issue of boundaries. Everyone has secrets, so when chatting, if you get to these topics, the conversation will end.

If someone doesn't want to talk, you have to respect that. It's also about security. If someone doesn't want to continue a conversation, there must be a reason. If the other person still wants to push it, the person being asked will guess your motives and feel violated.

I'm not sure if this helps.

A counselor is different from an ordinary conversation.

People can only give you the surface-level details of a situation. This can help you temporarily, but the root problem remains. Or, the opinion given may not solve the problem, but make you feel worse. Why is this?

We need to learn professional psychological knowledge to understand people and things.

Let me give you an example. If you think about it carefully, you will realize that your attitude determines the outcome. You know that a good attitude is the right one to adopt, but you just can't do it. Your attitude is followed by your feelings. For example, if someone says something to upset you, your feelings may be anger, frustration, or a sense of being disrespected. The reason for your feelings may be that you long to be respected by everyone. If you are not accepted, it means that you are not respected. The reason for this is actually your core values. Here, the counselor will take you through the experience and feelings that have led you to hold such values. You may think that this is the case from your point of view, but the counselor can show you that there must be an objective perspective in the middle. Then, the next time the same thing happens, you will look at it from a different perspective and adopt a different attitude. This is because there are some basic theories in psychology that can help us better evaluate what is of core significance to you. Here, it is not about right or wrong.

Good and bad, right and wrong—there's no way to judge.

A general psychology is necessary to live a happy life. Adjust your state of mind and everything will be better!

Hello, host.

I'm here to help and I'd love to get your feedback from letmefly.

I can see why the original poster is confused by this. Sometimes our friends act as a kind of psychological counselor, and it can feel very similar. I'd like to send the original poster a big hug first.

From my perspective, there are at least a few key differences between psychological counseling and regular chatting.

First, the goals are different. In general chat, the content is usually random and may include social issues. Even if friends come to us to vent, they also want emotional support. However, psychological counseling is based on a certain theoretical framework and aims to help the visitor grow.

Second, the settings are different. In general chat, we have more time to chat if we want to, and less time to chat if we don't. You listen to me, and I talk more. If you don't listen, we talk less. In psychological counseling, there is a fixed time setting, and it cannot be changed at will under normal circumstances. This shows that this kind of growth is a long-term need. It is not a temporary emotional support.

Third, the treatment is also different. For regular chats, friends usually don't charge a fee and aren't responsible. However, psychological counseling does charge a fee and must have a specific direction. This must be agreed upon by both parties. If the requirements aren't met, you can consider changing counselors or referrals. The main purpose is to help the visitor grow better.

In short, there are still many differences. I hope this helps, and I look forward to your feedback, attention, and likes.

Hello, questioner!

Thank you so much for your thoughtful and insightful question!

I'd love to hear from a professional counselor about the difference between psychological counseling and ordinary chatting.

First, when it comes to the relationship between the counselor and the client, it's a bit like a business relationship. Think of it as a kind of buyer-seller relationship.

The visitor is paying for the consultant's psychological expertise to answer their own questions and even help them work through their own difficult issues.

And, of course, there are some problems that just can't be solved.

Secondly, when it comes to the specific content and effectiveness of the conversation,

The biggest difference between a counselor and an ordinary person is that counselors take their work seriously. They don't speak casually; every word they say has a psychological basis.

This also includes being aware of your own feelings and thoughts when you're working with a client. It's important to understand how your feelings and thoughts might affect the way you interact with the client. This is called "counter-transference." It's also helpful to collect information about the client to form a case conceptualization.

We also need to know when it's okay to interrupt the visitor and when it's better to let them speak.

Even this silence has a very important psychological meaning. It helps the visitor to reflect and understand their emotional expression.

or defense, etc.

Third, we have to be really careful in these strict settings.

The counselor is there to help you, so it's important to remember that they have to stick to certain ethical principles. This means they have to keep what you say to them confidential.

It's so important to protect the principle of privacy. We just can't breach it when it affects public safety, harms the physical health, and so on.

And when it's safe to do so, it's okay to break the confidentiality rule.

Fourth, it's really important to make sure we have some clear boundaries in place.

The counselor is there to help the visitor, but it's important to remember that the counselor can only help by maintaining a value-neutral position. This means that the counselor can't cross the line.

The counselor will also try to understand what the visitor is going through, but in a way that is not influenced by any personal opinions.

The counselor will also try to understand what the visitor is going through, but in a way that is not influenced by any personal opinions.

Fifth, interact with the client using a three-dimensional perspective.

First, it's so important to try to understand the inner world and emotional dynamics of the client, as well as their bodily sensations.

Second, it's so important to understand your own inner world and emotional dynamics in counseling. Third, it's great to feel the body!

Third, it's so important to be aware of what's going on in the interaction with the client during the consultation. Try to see things from their perspective, with a kind and understanding gaze.

And finally, we come to the sixth point: responsibility and risk.

Some of our lovely visitors have neurotic personalities, while others have borderline personalities.

Some folks have personality disorders, while others have mental illnesses. It's so important for counselors to be aware of this and to be there for their clients in whatever way they can.

It's also important to identify and assess personality levels, as well as screen which clients are suitable for our services and which might need a different kind of help.

And also to be super careful at all times to keep our visitors safe!

So, how can we help them to stay safe? We must remember that counselors are also at high risk.

I just wanted to let you know that time is limited, so I'll have to stop here for now.

Hello, I'm Consultant Yao, and I'm here to support and care for you!

A system notification has been received, inviting a response. Gratitude is extended for the opportunity to communicate through text.

From the comments, it appears that the questioner is more concerned about the fact that their mode of communication is not understood or accepted by others in their daily lives, which in turn leads to:

From the comments, it can be inferred that the questioner is more troubled by the fact that their mode of communication is not understood or accepted by others in their daily lives, which results in

In the context of interactions with unfamiliar individuals, there is often a paucity of conversational topics and a pervasive sense of unease. In contrast, conversations with semi-acquaintances tend to be more relaxed, with a greater willingness to discuss personal challenges. In such instances, I often find myself offering analytical insights and guidance.

In light of the concern that engaging in lengthy discourse may prove tedious for the other party, it is my intention to elucidate the distinction between "ordinary chatting" and "psychological counseling" from this vantage point. The ensuing discourse will not be constrained to a mere delineation of the aforementioned differences; rather, it will serve as a point of reference for the host in contemplating the nuances of this predicament.

In light of the concern that one might exhaust the topics of conversation, it is hoped that this delineation between "ordinary chatting" and "psychological counseling" will prove beneficial. The following exposition will not be limited to the differences between the two, but will provide a reference for the topic owner's thinking from the dilemma itself.

First, psychological counseling is a professional service with strict settings, which is essentially different from the active areas of the brain during ordinary conversation. It not only alters the emotional activity of the brain, but also reshapes the brain's structure.

First, psychological counseling is a professional service with strict settings, which is essentially different from the active areas of the brain in ordinary chatting. It not only alters the emotional activity of the brain, but also reshapes the brain's structure.

At first glance, the majority of psychological counseling occurs in the form of conversation. This method of "talk therapy" appears to be a relaxing and highly rewarding activity for individuals without professional training.

However, in practice, there is a considerable degree of synchronisation of behaviour between the counsellor and the client. This can be defined as the establishment and influence of a relationship alliance, which in turn affects the psychological health of the client.

The aforementioned conclusion is derived from the following research: Zhang, Y., Meng, T., Hou, Y.Y., Pan, Y.F., & Hu, Y. (2018). Interpersonal Brain Synchronization Associated with Working Alliance during Psychotherapy.

Should the client express interest, they are at liberty to pursue the matter independently.

In sum, the inquirer can discern in everyday discourse whether, in

In addition, the inquirer may discern in everyday discourse whether, beyond adopting an "uninvolved perspective" and "handing over the initiative to others" in speech, they have also achieved synchrony in nonverbal communication.

In human communication, nonverbal messages convey a significantly greater quantity of information than verbal messages. Indeed, the former account for 97% of the information conveyed, while the latter account for only 3%.

2. The content of the chat can be either profound or superficial. A daily chat about the weather and food is an innocuous way to initiate a conversation.

2. The content of the chat can be either profound or superficial. One strategy for circumventing awkward conversations is to commence with a harmless and relaxing topic, such as discussing the weather or food.

In psychological counseling, the counselor does not adopt an external perspective with regard to the client's situation. Instead, the counselor engages in active listening and demonstrates empathy.

The client experiences the counselor as sharing their breath and fate for the duration of the 50-minute session. Concurrently, the counselor rapidly identifies the factors influencing the client's current mental health while accepting the client's emotions.

In other words, the counselor's approach is to be both within the client's reality and outside of it. This is one of the reasons why this work requires continuous growth and extensive professional training in order to be able to provide services for which one can be compensated.

However, the daily communication of the questioner does not have such complex requirements. Interpersonal interactions are primarily focused on relationship-building, particularly given that individuals are already engaged in communication and forming connections with one another.

Once the objective has been grasped, it is common practice to commence with a relatively innocuous subject.

It is my hope that the aforementioned information will prove inspirational to the reader.

I am a psychologist whose focus is not on the exploration of human nature, but rather on the examination of the human heart. I extend my best wishes to you.

Chatting is different from counseling.

Psychological counseling is about getting help from a professional to solve problems.

"Asking for help" means there must be a request before help can be given.

This is a specific situation with a professional setting.

If someone doesn't want to be analyzed, we shouldn't insist.

If you chat like a counselor, you'll bore the other person.

Chatting is for emotional interaction.

When chatting, we talk about our feelings and listen to others.

Emotional interaction improves relationships.

If you never talk about your feelings, others will sense your discomfort and try to get you to talk about them.

If you have trouble sharing yourself in a friendly chat or always analyze others, you may need to explore why.

Is it your fear of sharing too much?

Or is it to spy on others?

Or is it a lack of trust?

Or maybe there are no clear limits?

If someone is uncomfortable with your questions, can you stop?

Why do you get uncomfortable in silence?

What embarrasses you?

...

These are interesting questions.

Hope this helps.