Psychotherapy and Life Coaching: The Similarities and Differences

A woman comes in depressed and anxious after a recent divorce; another woman comes in after a divorce but is more hopeful and eagerly wants to move on with her life. Should these women see a therapist or life coach or perhaps both? Hopefully, this article will clarify the differences and similarities and how each profession provides its own unique gems.

In terms of more personal issues, individuals many years ago before the birthing of psychotherapy, might seek guidance from their church or synagogue. Once Freud and Psychoanalysis emerged, psychotherapy became the place to go for one on one support. In terms of employer employee relations, there was a time in the workforce when an employee might seek counsel from a manager. With the downsizing of middle management, many employees found themselves without support. What have replaced them in the corporate world is independent consultants. They help the employee to deal with morale, relationship building, and employee absenteeism among other employer-employee issues. Now, with the onset of virtual technology, e-mail, wireless office technology and an increase in home offices, guidance can now come from an individual's own home. Although psychotherapy has its own guidelines state to state, life coaching can be facilitated anywhere. It is a global community. Life coaching can keep individuals and employees motivated and accountable as well as move them towards finding a more fulfilling and purposeful life,

Now you might be asking where does psychotherapy come in. Although there are therapists that are more goals oriented and solution focused, life coaches and therapists serve different purposes. The therapist is the person who is sought out for healing old wounds, focuses on past issues, and deals with personal problems that need to be analyzed and solved. The life coach, on the other hand, is a mentor or guide. Coaches focus on the manifestation of one's future making their dreams come alive now with accountability and action steps designed both by the life coach and the client. Leslie Lupinsky, a master certified coach, states, "So much therapy is about the past and present and all about focusing the client towards healing, and coaching, on the other hand, is about helping a client look forward to expand their options and take action." Life coaching is not about fixing a problem but rather helping a client get out of the comfort zone. It is the transformation of creating a future self. A life coach believes a client is already whole. Pati Maez from Hozhoin Healing Arts and a co-active coach states, "I love co-active coaching because I am dancing in the moment now. Coaching is proactive…today and tomorrow." Being coached is consciously choosing a preferred future and living life fully and purposefully now. As Maez says to her clients, "Go be the best that you are now." Coaching does not focus on what needs mending but rather clarifies what the client wants to improve upon whether it is their career, their relationship, their health and well being, or even their spirituality. Leslie Gail, Life Coach and owner of New Life Focus Coaching acknowledges that "if you are committed to making some life changes, but need guidance and information to make it a reality, then working with a life coach is your best bet."

Coaches ask clients "What is it they really want out of life?" The Coaches Training Institute sees coaching as an alliance between the coach and client together. In other words, there is a "co-creation" or partnership of equals in the process of coaching. They use what is known as a "co-active" model and believe the client is already "naturally, creative, resourceful and whole." Therapy, on the other hand, treats a client's diagnosis. Coaching demands the bringing forth of a client's brilliance of who they are and have always been. Gary Yoon, a life coach client insists, "Coaching demands us to be the person we were created to be, not just for themselves but for others, as well. When we hide that part of ourselves, others can't benefit from the beautiful gifts and talents we already have."

Coaching puts the brakes on when will the client finally be fulfilled, but rather we have these gifts inside us already and coaching helps give birth to it. Mary Copek used coaching to help her work through her grief of the sudden death of her husband. "I truly wanted to grieve as necessary, but to balance that right from the start with a positive plan for my future. Coaching allowed me the freedom to cry and even in the same breath consider the new opportunities that lay before me," she said. Although she still experienced sad times, she reports they have been overshadowed by the exciting new life she has launched with the help and guidance from a life coach.

In essence, there is always room for life coaching or psychotherapy. When issues are more serious or are out of a coach's scope of practice, a life coach will refer a client to outside psychotherapy. They are highly trained to deal with mental illness, suicide, addictions, abuse, and other more difficult problems. A client in these instances needs to be properly evaluated and treated for these issues. Psychotherapy is about eliminating problems and making changes to live a more functional life and life coaching is about calling forth the magnificence that has always existed in the client so they can breathe into the life they are truly meant to live.