Thank you for your question. I agree with you in part, especially in terms of traditional views and styles of therapy and coaching, but believe there can be a fair amount of overlap between coaching and therapy, leading to a certain amount of fuzziness around the distinctions.

As we approach the end of 2009, I'm not sure that we are much closer, as a field (or 2 fields) to understanding the relationship between coaching and psychotherapy. However, it is a topic I continue to explore with colleagues who are both coaches and therapists and in my own research.

There are many types of therapy and coaching, and there are types of therapy that are less similar to each other than some types of therapy are to coaching. For example, I believe that pure cognitive-behavioral therapy is probably closer to coaching than it is to psychoanalysis in terms of what happens during sessions. Depending on the therapist, the view of the client may be similar to a coach's view, or may be more hierarchical and pathology-oriented.

In my opinion, the more overwhelmed the client tends to be, the more trauma is involved, the less client resilience is readily accessible, the more likely it is that appropriate therapy will be more helpful than coaching - especially if the focus is on deeper emotional healing.

However, clients in therapy often have goals they would like to attain, and not just in the long-term. And, once a client is no longer overwhelmed, there is an opportunity to move toward peak performance and flourishing. The style of work at that point may be coaching, or closer to coaching, and that style of work is quite possible within a therapy session, perhaps with a therapist who is also trained as a coach.

I will add a separate blog post soon looking in greater detail at how and when a therapy session might look different from a coaching session, in my opinion.