Psychotherapy might be more appropriate in some occasions to allow for a deeper healing process and needs greater commitment as facing ourselves might be difficult.
This actually is a mixed type case study. It started out as a coaching contract. The client was a young man that was exhibiting high levels of stress, psychosomatic symptoms and low self-esteem. He wanted to improve what he felt he was capable of in his job and his sense of self-worth.
We started with the contract for ten coaching sessions also asking him to set some short term goals. As we started working, it became apparent to me that the issues he was up against were deeply rooted and would require a deeper process that would also require some extra commitment from the client. I asked the client to commit for two years as we were discussing his relations with his parents and other important persons in his life. Developmentally, when he was a child his worth was not acknowledged properly. Some sexual issues were also coming to the fore and I suspected deeply rooted shame. Those issues obviously required some time to work through and to let him see his reality more clearly.
The client decided not to continue for a second year of therapy. He did some important steps though as he was starting to understand some issues he was facing. I do hope that he will find a good therapist to go back to therapy when the time is right for him.
So coaching is right for some issues connected to work or health that need an action-oriented way to address them. Psychotherapy might be more appropriate in some occasions to allow for a deeper healing process but needs a greater commitment as facing ourselves might be difficult.
