3 Psychological perspectives

This section looks at understanding and naming mental health problems from a psychological perspective. A a number of different psychological approaches focus on different factors in peoples’ lives which may cause them distress. However, there are also certain common features in the work of psychological practitioners (such as clinical psychologists), and this section is more concerned with what unites the psychological perspective rather than what divides it. Within mental health services, psychological practitioners can be further classified by their roles; three of the most common types of practitioners in this field are:

• counselling or clinical psychologists
• psychotherapists
• counsellors.