When do I go to a psychologist, when to a medium?

Last week, medium Kristina Sacken, moderator Susanne Brückner and I talked about the question, for which topics someone should rather go to a psychologist, for which questions it is better to go to a medium. You can listen directly to the podcast here – sorry only in German: https://open.spotify.com/episode/466Tn67nR5hfM6aTlm0YlG?si=FWFoZ727TE6-d21Dqmmw7Q

This topic is particularly exciting for me, because I am a psychologist, systemic therapist and medium and I am often asked whether I make a difference in the sessions with my clients. Of course, it depends on the client’s question – depending on the issue someone comes to me with, I primarily use my studied knowledge and experience as a therapist and also my skills as a medium. It is not always so easy to separate the two, but more about that later. First, I would like to give a general overview of the difference:

What distinguishes the work of a psychologist and a medium?

A psychologist is a highly skilled mental health professional who helps people overcome their emotional, psychological, and interpersonal challenges. Here are some positive aspects that can be associated with seeing a psychologist:

1. emotional support: a psychologist provides a safe and confidential space where people can talk about their feelings, fears, and concerns. Through empathetic conversations and professional support, the psychologist helps alleviate emotional distress and strengthen personal resilience.
2. problem-solving strategies: a psychologist works with people to help them identify problems, understand causes, and develop constructive approaches to solving them. They have proven therapy methods and intervention techniques that are tailored to individual client needs.
3. improving mental health: by seeing a psychologist, people can improve their mental health. A psychologist can help diagnose and treat mental health disorders such as anxiety, depression, eating disorders, trauma, and other problems. Psychologists provide evidence-based therapies and interventions to alleviate symptoms and improve quality of life.
4. relationship and communication improvement: a psychologist can help people improve their interpersonal relationships. By assisting with communication, conflict resolution, and building healthy relationships, psychologists can help increase well-being in both personal and professional relationships.
5. promoting personal growth: A psychologist can help people realize their full potential and achieve personal growth. By encouraging self-reflection and self-development, psychologists can help people identify their strengths, overcome negative thinking patterns, and achieve their goals.
It is important to emphasize that psychologists are grounded in evidence-based approaches and scientific knowledge. They provide professional help and support for people with mental health challenges. Seeing a psychologist can help improve quality of life and promote positive changes in thinking, feeling and behavior. For the visit to the psychologist applies – only if you also want the support and accompaniment of a psychologist, the accompaniment can lead to positive changes in your life. For this, as with the medium, it is also important that there is mutual respect and trust in the work.

A medium is a person who has a unique connection to a spiritual level or higher energy. Through superior trained sensitive abilities, a medium can help people find deeper meaning in their lives and connect with their spiritual roots.
The work of a medium depends heavily on individual belief systems and convictions. Not everyone may believe in the abilities of mediums or embrace them as relevant support. It is ultimately up to each individual to decide if visiting a medium might be beneficial to them personally.

Here are some positive aspects that can be associated with visiting a medium:

1. support in coping with grief: A medium can help people who have experienced the loss of a loved one find comfort and peace by allowing them to communicate with the deceased or receive messages from the spirit world. This can contribute to a sense of relief and comfort.
2. spiritual guidance: a medium can help people connect with their own spirituality and answer their spiritual questions. Through contact with a higher energy source, a medium can provide guidance and inspiration for personal growth and development.
3. personal insight: a medium can help people gain deeper insight into their own lives. It can help them recognize certain patterns or themes that repeat in their lives and help them find new perspectives and solutions.

4. empowerment: Going to a medium can help people develop a sense of empowerment. By gaining access to information that goes beyond the ordinary senses, people can feel empowered to make decisions and move their lives in a positive direction.

When do I differentiate in my work?

Basically, I always start a conversation with a so-called anamnesis or situational assessment to get a feeling and an impression of the state my counterpart is in and the challenge the person has come to me with. Usually this happens in a get-to-know-you or initial interview. My in-depth training as a graduate psychologist and systemic therapist for families, couples and individuals helps me to get a good insight into what state the person is in and how I can support the person already in the first conversation.

Both my psychological and my mediumistic skills are part of me. Therefore, it is impossible for me to switch off part of them and work with only one area when I engage with a client. Whether someone comes for a mediumship session and wants a spiritual assessment, or someone sits with me with a psychological question – I always work holistically and with everything I can and am. My mediumistic abilities, for example, that I can feel into the other person through my clairvoyance, help me to „read“ connections better. My skills as a psychologist and therapist help me to create the best way for my client to support her in her situation.

In working with my clients, I also often have my antennae out wide – in the language of mediumship, it goes beyond intuition and includes both the clairvoyant senses already mentioned above and access to a higher source of knowledge that each of us may name differently. For some it is a higher consciousness, for others the spiritual world, for still others we have helpers at our side with whom we communicate. For me it is irrelevant which image or idea suits you, I have learned to accept my natural sensory abilities and to be open to what additional information is available to me about and for my client as a result. Not all of my clients are equally open to these approaches, so there are many sessions with me that focus purely on the psychological and therapeutic qualifications.

What is relevant for me, however, is that I also match the information I receive on a mediumistic level with my psychological knowledge and therapeutic skills. In the end, it is important for me to find a way to support my clients in their situation in the best possible way. In our worldly life this has in most cases to do with how we can implement and integrate new information about ourselves or new perspectives in our everyday life. And here, above all, the psychological and therapeutic view of the situation helps us.

It even becomes dangerous when we ignore psychological challenges and focus solely on the spiritual perspective – this is called Spiritual Bypassing.

People who suffer from psychological challenges must first deal with processing and healing them before they should deal with their spiritual development. It can be far too easy for the psychological challenge to worsen otherwise, as these people feel they are not good enough or worthy if they do not resolve their own challenges in life via spiritual practice. Psychological issues require psychological support. Spiritual coaches or counselors are rarely trained to provide clients with the support and guidance they need when facing psychological challenges. Good mediums or spiritual counselors are aware of this fact and recommend that clients with psychological challenges also seek out an expert in this area.

Basically, there is no one better choice – mediums and psychologists have different approaches and skills that are right and important for different issues in a client’s life. As long as we as experts know which clients are right for us, all is fine. That exactly is our responsibility as an expert. However, it is also not wrong for clients to have thought in advance about the nature of their challenge – and to lead honestly into themselves. At the very least, clients should have the openness and accept it as a loving hint when a medium or even psychologist tells them as feedback to the initial consultation that they are better off with the other specialty.

If you are curious about working with me, please feel free to browse my website www.danniequilitzsch.com and schedule an initial consultation with me. I look forward to getting to know you!