What is the difference between counselling, psychotherapy or coaching?
Below is a comparative chart.
| Accompanying the client | Psychological support | Focusing on or changing the client’s personality | Objectives | |
| Counselling | A counsellor gives constant support to the client to help them deal with difficult situations and experiences or challenges in life. They accompany them with love, an unconditional positive regard, and without judgment, so that the client can learn to find their own way forward. The therapeutic relationship between them is fundamental. | A counsellor works with the person’s emotions using different techniques, ranging from talking therapy to working with the body and the emotions.A counsellor does not give advice, but guides the client to find their own solutions. | A counsellor focuses on the client’s personality in the present and on how to live in the here and now without all the baggage from their past, thereby preventing it from doing them any more harm. They do not accompany clients in the origins of how their personality formed or in the changes which they could make to it. | A counsellor does not have specific objectives at the start of the therapy process. The client chooses the topic of each session because the session takes place in a safe space where they can express themselves freely.Later, when the therapeutic relationship has been established, it’s possible that objectives could arise. Equally, they could evolve and change with time, according to what the client discovers during the process. |
| Psychotherapy | A psychotherapist does the same. | A psychotherapist does the same. | A psychotherapist can accompany the client in the origins of how their personality formed or in the changes which they could make to it. | A psychotherapist does the same. |
| Coaching | A coach accompanies the client to help them find solutions to everyday problems, but there is no therapeutic relationship. | A coach does not focus on the emotional side of the problem or dilemma, but rather on practical ways to deal with it, and with suggestions. | A coach does not focus on the personality or the emotions of the client. | A coach uses the objective(s) presented by the client at the start of the process. They are usually practical objectives, unrelated to the client’s emotions or personality. |