Coaching versus Therapy
Life coaching has some fundamental differences with psychotherapy, which are important to understand when choosing a professional to support you.
Therapists focus on “why” certain behavioural patterns occur and how to heal the psychological injuries or traumas that are at the roots of the problems. After emitting a diagnosis, they help their patients in analysing their past and psyche as a tool for understanding their present condition. They can focus on recovering from past traumas or current depression, anxiety, mourning or deep grief, uncovering relationships patterns among others…
Life coaches simply identify and describe current problems and work on “how” to find and implement practical ways to deal with them in order for the client to achieve its goals, improve its life and express its potential. It can help with a wide range of issues such as life changes, work/life balance, relationships etc… This often entails developing new skills such as communication, leadership, personal organization or self-esteem.
This solution-based and behaviours-focused approach allows a different relationship and working process than with the therapists. While therapy work is often long and unpredictable in terms of outcome (what will be found?) and time, the coaching relationship is relatively short and that of a client-provider. It relies on specific and measurable objectives, that a coach can help clarify early-on, and a given process (number and frequency of sessions, responsibilities and commitments of both sides…) to build accountability and ensure effectiveness.
Choosing between a coach and a psychotherapist depend on what you want to achieve, the means you want to work on and the resources you want to commit.
In my experience as a coach, coaching and therapy can work together, one after the other or simultaneously to address different aspects of a same problem. One of my clients who I have helped to plan her retirement said to me: “I have achieved more with you in 6 sessions than with 10 years of psychotherapy”. I thanked her for her compliment before emphasizing that, in my opinion, her therapy had been instrumental in the coaching’s success, laying the psychological grounds for effective behavioural solutions to be implemented. In some particular cases, I have had the opposite experiences, in which the coaching process brings into light psychological wounds, for which my clients then decided to treat with a psychotherapist. Indeed, a good coach can use practical situations to cut through mental defences – which often prevent us from seeing ourselves as we are – and generate profound insights.
When you look at a life coach vs. a therapist’s practice, it’s important to recognize that therapists help clients explore and understand their subconscious and unconscious mind. Their goal in this exploration is a deep understanding of behaviors and patterns. Life coaches focus on an individual’s actions and results. Life coaches measure their client’s success with key performance indicators and specific behavioral outcomes and goals.
What a life coach does is help you to change. They give you the confidence to move forward and to improve the areas of your life that you are unhappy with
“You can’t cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the water.”
– Rabindranath Tagore