What is the difference between coaching and psychotherapy?
Psychotherapy is a health care service through which nervous and mental disorders are identified, diagnosed and treated. The goals include alleviating symptoms, understanding the underlying personality dynamics which create symptoms, changing the dysfunctional behaviors which are the result of these disorders, and helping patients to cope with their psychological problems. Coaching is not a health care service. Its primary focus is to help take information and skills the client already has to make decisions about the changes to be made and to develop a personal “action plan” in order to achieve the client’s agenda. The goals include implementing the action plan, overcoming obstacles, and developing strategies to maintain the changes that have been made. The coach can be thought of as a tool the client uses to achieve a specific goal that enhances and enriches his personal and/or professional life.
