A common question asked by people who, in one way or another, have contact with the field of psychology, is about the differences between Coaching and Psychology.
Or what is the same, They wonder about the difference in the theoretical base, roles and methods used by both professionals psychologists and coaches.
To start, you should ask yourself something basic: How is Coaching defined and what is it based on? And likewise, what are the characteristics that make both disciplines very different in their approaches?
Going deeper into both disciplines
Lets start by the beginning. The coach (that is, the Coaching professional) is a communication skills expert who wants his client or coachee be able to discover your goals in life. The coach is in charge of accompanying the client and doing everything necessary so that these commitments and goals are achieved.
As we see, Coaching is a technical methodology that applies concepts and theoretical bases of psychology to specific cases and adapting them to the client’s requirements However, the concept of Coaching has managed to establish itself as a professional task not necessarily linked to people who have studied behavior and mental processes in depth; that is, the psychologists
This separation of Coaching from psychology has allowed people who do not have fundamental studies on the behavior and techniques of psychology to offer Coaching services with no more validation than some private training courses.
A psychologist, on the other hand, is someone who has studied for years and in a rigorous and systematic way all the issues related to the human psyche, the development of skills, and the techniques and methods that allow a person to improve in their field and achieve their personal and professional goals. In addition to their regulated university training, the psychologist must be part of a professional official college thus accepting common ethical and deontological instructions for all professionals in the sector, a fact that guarantees the client seriousness and confidence in the service that will be provided.
The psychologist has specific training on the communication and interview techniques in addition to greater knowledge about psychological processes, a fact that allows you to be a better interpreter of the client’s personality and their psychosocial and/or work casuistry.
There are even more reasons to trust a psychologist instead of a coach without psychology studies. The psychologist has to his credit various methodological approaches and different techniques with which to treat the client, depending on their personality or their objectives. They can advise and give guidelines for action, train different skills, and ultimately can intervene directly on the client’s needs.
The non-psychological coaches They follow a different methodology that is based on suggesting and enabling the client’s life through conversation and socratic method but it cannot intervene directly since it is neither empowered nor has the resources to do so.
Coaching that is promoted as something it is not
Many psychology professionals complain about the way Coaching professionals without university studies promote themselves. Coaching, as it is not governed by any professional association that guarantees the good practice of its members, has absolute freedom to use questionable promotion and marketing methods, and can apply disproportionate rates that do not correspond to the quality of the service or the preparation of the coach. coach.
Therefore, if what you are looking for is a quality service that can be adapted to your needs and objectives, It is preferable that you contact a psychology professional who also has knowledge of Coaching
