Coaching v therapy
A frequently asked question is: What is the difference between coaching and psychotherapy?
The most clichéd answer is that “therapy focuses on the past whereas coaching focuses on the present and future”. But there are psychotherapeutic approaches (cognitive behavioural therapy, for example) that do not encourage clients to dwell on the past, and forms of coaching that allow for deeper self-exploration.
In a previous article, I described existential coaching as the ultimate grey area between coaching and psychotherapy. A blurred border seems to cause some unease to those who like to believe there is a definite boundary between the two fields. In reality, there is a large crossover.
An assumption often made about coaching is that it is more ‘directive’ than therapy - yet, the opposite is true: trainee coaches are told ad nauseam they mustn't express personal opinion or offer any advice; whereas therapists and psychologists can be much more prescriptive in their approach.
In essence, coaching and therapy have more in common than what sets them apart: they both provide a safe space for self-reflection with the aim of helping clients move forward in life and increase their emotional resilience. In short, their shared goal is to make people happier!
The most significant difference between the two professions is that, unlike therapists, coaches are not qualified to work with serious mental health issues, such as psychoses or personality disorders. Therefore, psychotherapy can involve recovery from a state of dysfunction to one of being functional; whereas coaching is more about helping healthy people achieve their full potential.
In real life, though, things are not so clear-cut. Not all therapy clients are ill; many highly functioning people seek the help of psychotherapists in order to increase self-awareness and achieve personal growth. At the same time, coaching clients aren’t always in a healthy state of mind.
As Mark Twain stated, “Let us consider that we are all partially insane. It will explain us to one another; it will unriddle many riddles."
Many therapists choose to train in coaching often as a result of feeling frustrated with the limitations of traditional psychology — which, for example, tends to overlook the mind-body connection — and also because most organisations nowadays are more likely to hire a coach than a therapist, as coaching is widely perceived to be more effective at generating paradigm shifts and personal transformation.
While coaching as we know it will hopefully never replace therapy altogether, it is a much-needed evolutionary step in the helping professions; and in the future, like it or not, the boundary between the two areas is likely to become even more blurred.