Coaching and Therapy: How They Differ
Coaching and psychotherapy are very different. Since I have a Ph.D. in clinical psychology, I want all my coaching clients (and psychotherapy clients) to understand the difference. Being a therapist doesn�t prepare me any more for being a good coach than the NBA prepared Michael Jordan for major league baseball. While some of the skills are the same in both, the rules and skills are mostly different. Similarly, much of my coaching experience is irrelevant to psychotherapy. In order to highlight the differences I have different web pages, different telephone lines, different advertisements, and different email accounts for my two major professions. I do not do psychotherapy when I am coaching, and I don�t do coaching with my psychotherapy clients. Below are a number of ways that the two clearly differ:
- HEALTH MODEL. Psychotherapy is done within the medical model. As such, a diagnosis is typically made and a medical disorder treated. Health insurance pays for some or all of psychotherapy, which aims to get you well. Coaching starts with the assumption that you are already doing pretty well, and want to get better. You pay for it yourself, like you would pay for a tennis coach, and the focus is on reaching towards your dreams, and taking action to get there.
- TIME FOCUS. Psychotherapy is largely focused on understanding patterns form the past. While Freudian therapies focus on very early issues, even cognitive-behavioral therapies look for patterns, albeit more recent ones. Coaching is focussed on the present and on the future and leaves the past to you and your therapist.
- SCOPE. While some of psychotherapy may focus on real world, practical issues, the primary focus is on thoughts, feelings, and fantasies, usually about others. Your coach, on the other hand, goes where you want to go. You might be working on what kind of car you want, how to manage your time better, how to lose weight, or how to balance your job and home life. This practical, present-centered focus is often in areas that are beyond the scope and bounds of psychotherapy, just as most therapy is beyond the scope of coaching.
- DEPENDENCY. Therapy patients often become dependent on their therapists, who sometimes are experienced as parental figures. Coaching clients, while they may stay with a coach for a year or two, or even longer, are always independent. The client becomes increasingly self reliant and empowered, and the coach is experienced more like a peer than like a parent.
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FREQUENCY AND LOCATION. Psychotherapy is often once a week for 45 or 50 minutes, in person, in the therapist's office. Some Freudian therapies can be as frequent as 4 or 5 times/week, but phone contact and email are avoided. Coaching on the other hand, minimizes the face to face contact, preferring the telephone, email, fax, and work site. Sessions are 30 minutes and less for a typical contact, but with much greater frequency. And they can be at the client's convenience since neither the client nor the therapist is bound to their office. In fact, it can be done while they are both on vacation, since it is primarily done by telephone.
NEUTRALITY. A therapist does their best to remain neutral and distant. In Psychotherapy a real relationship with the therapist is typically discouraged, and any feelings between the client and therapist are subjected to intense scrutiny for clues about the past. In Coaching, the mentor/coach is often actively involved with you, being a role model and often a participant in the projects you undertake together. A good coach mainatins boundaries (does not take advantage of his client), but becomes fully involved with you in the changes you are making.
SKILLS. Some of the skills used by therapists and coaches are the same, but most of them are different. Coaches, like therapists, ask stimulating questions that open doors. But there are plenty of differences in technique. While stress management techniques might be used by both, psychotherapists are more likely to interpret for you what is happening, whereas coaches give ongoing feedback. Coaches more frequently focus your awareness on exactly what is going on in the here and now. Therapists might ask you to anticipate a future event as a potential repetition of a past mistake, while coaches help you strategize how to reach future goals. Coaches focus on your successes, while most therapists focus on your mistakes. And coaches see you through as you implement your plans.
PROBLEMS. There is not much overlap in the kinds of problems seen. Medical diagnoses like Depressions, Obsessions and Compulsions, Hysteria, and Neurosis are legitimately in the therapists ball park, while quality of life issues, spirituality, executive decision making, and general problem solving are more suited to coaching. To be sure there are some psychiatric or psychological diagnoses that therapists who are also coaches do focus on. Some of the more noteworthy examples are Attention Deficit Disorders and habit disorders like Bulimia. Those coaches however are very cognizant of the differences between coaching and therapy, such as those outlined above. They refer problems that arise that require therapy to a psychologist who does the therapy, and focus instead on the health oriented goals that are amenable to coaching.
Note! It should be noted that Internet and telecommunication communication is potentially less confidential than private one on one sessions. While a coach will usually go out of his way to request that someone not disclose the information, the reality is that FAX and Email are potentially vulnerable to eavesdropping/hacking/wiretapping. Coaches will require everyone in a virtual groups to refrain from taping or disclosing information.
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