I’ve written several times throughout this website on the differences and commonalities of life coaching and psychology.  When I wrote my first article on the topic, I approached my writing given the classic use of psychology, a field in which mental health professionals were trained to diagnose, treat and support mental illness and emotional disorders.  As I am not trained to be a practicing psychologist, I admit that I am not as privy to the latest theories and principles taught in today’s modern schooling systems.  However, I am very tuned in with new theories, studies and approaches that mirror the techniques used in the field of life coaching. 

What is Life Coaching?

As a quick recap - a life coach is a trained professional that supports a client in moving forward towards their goals, vision, and dreams.  They do this by a process of clarifying intentions, developing realistic and relevant action plans, and supporting their clients by using empowerment tools that help them overcome barriers to success.  Some also provide essential mentoring in the topic they wish to excel in.  I’ve written at length on this topic and if you are interested in knowing more about what a life coach is, please visit my full article.   

What is Positive Psychology?

In 1998, a new branch of psychology arose which was founded on a thought that perhaps psychology could be used as a positive influence for those who are not dealing with mental illness, disorders, or emotional trauma.  Perhaps concepts of applied psychology could be used to re-enforce strengths such that every day individuals could go farther and beyond what they are currently doing.  It was possible that psychological principles could be used to increase success and happiness for anyone. 

When this movement began, a study of many of the wisdom traditions and philosophies collected throughout history was performed that identified a series of core virtues and strengths (written about in the Character Strengths and Virtues Handbook) that led to greater overall personal wellness.  These strengths fall into six categories:

1. Wisdom and Knowledge
2. Courage
3. Humanity
4. Justice
5. Temperance
6. Transcendence

If you’d like more detailed information on the topic, Wikipedia does a good job at explaining in full the history and application of positive psychology. 

Positive Psychology and Coaching

While life coaches, business coaches, wellness coaches and even athletic coaches are typically not trained psychologists, whether or not they know it, most are practicing principles of positive psychology in the work that they do.  Through a series of tools, a coach typically will support their clients by identifying and making conscious their core values that they can leverage to excel in the activities that they perform in.  I provide a tool/process on this website which supports people in identifying their core values that you are welcome to use for yourself or your clients.  The process in which this is done may vary dependent on the coach and their personal philosophical approach, but the end result is the same.  A better understanding of what is important to you, your strengths, and ultimately the answer to the question -How can I leverage my strengths to bring greater success into my life?  

Positive psychology is not the same thing as life coaching.  Positive psychology is really a principle or a tool that a coach can use with a client to bring greater success into their life.  It is not, however, comprehensive of what life coaching is, it is simply a guiding principle that coaches use as a tool in working with their clients.  Positive psychology does not address questions like how to design empowering goals,  how to create a support structure to see you through to success, or provide mentoring when appropriate. 

Closing Comments

When I began coaching, and even today, my mentors and personal coaches warned me strongly about crossing the lines of being a psychologist and a coach.  I took this to heart as I’ve no formal psychology training and have been very conscious not to let my work enter infringe on the work of psychologists.  In doing so, initially I closed my mind to much of the field of psychology because I wanted to make sure I was not working in a way that could be confused with what a counselor might do. 

As I began studying and reading more on topics like procrastination, goal setting, and success (which happened to be written by psychologists), I slowly opened my mind to considering the message behind what my mentors were saying.  Given the history of what psychologists have done, they were in actuality telling me that we need to make sure that coaching does not cross the line of ‘therapy’, not psychology, as psychology is imbedded in everything that we do.  Some new and progressive fields of psychology - such as Solution Focused Brief Therapy and Positive Psychology, are actually fields which look much more similar to a life coaching model than the classic therapist model.  For this, I am encouraged as we begin seeing more and more psychologists beginning to shift their practice from healing clients to growing their clients. 

Still, I’ve had conversations with many psychologists regarding their education - even those recently receiving degrees, that have little background or knowledge of these topics.  Regardless, I am encouraged that a growing percent do have some fundamental knowledge of these blossoming fields, and it excites me that life coaching may one day gain further credibility by its general acceptance into the more developed fields of psychology. 

“If you’ve found this site useful, please link to it so that others can benefit!”

Be Well

Related Articles:

• The Difference Between Life Coaching and Psychology
• What is a Life Coach?
• Who are you?
• 10 Steps to Success
• Developing Lifestyle Change Goals
• 10 Steps to Success - Step 7 Enroll Support

Written by Doug Nau, The Wellness Coach, i-grow.net