Differences between Couple Coaching and Therapy

 Holding a doctorate in clinical psychology from Adelphi University, Dr. Marc L. Miller, PhD, is the chief executive officer of Marc Miller Coaching. He assists individuals, couples, and families in improving interpersonal communication and collaborative relationships. One of the areas Dr. Marc Miller, PhD, focuses on is couple coaching.

Over the years, seeking professional relationship assistance has become less stigmatized, with more couples opting to get help to resolve a range of challenges. The common terms that may come up in this aspect are coaching and therapy. People may confuse the two, and though seemingly interchangeable, several distinct differences exist.

A relatively new field, couple coaching is a goal-oriented approach aimed at solving relationship issues while setting and achieving concrete goals such as improving communication in the relationship. As a relatively new alternative to traditional therapy, couple coaching identifies weaknesses in the relationship, offers solutions with set goals, and seeks ways to meet the goals. Couple coaching is based on success coaching and personal growth models, and does not involve delving into the psychological root causes of the issues. This means that it works best for couples with simple misunderstandings that may take as little as a few weeks to solve, but can also be helpful at clarifying and repairing longer-standing patterns of interaction within the relationship that have undermined trust and security, so that the couple can re-establish a much more positive, loving way of relating to one another.

On the other hand, couple therapy is based on psychotherapy and often explores "deeper" and more dysfunctional feelings, thoughts, behaviors, moods, and other areas. Couple therapy also delves deeper into each individual’s experiences that may affect the relationship, such as childhood trauma, and aims to solve more "pathological" personality issues. Depending on the inherent problems, the therapy can take a few weeks to several years. To practice this therapy, the person must be a licensed therapist.

Couple coaching, as practiced by Dr. Marc Miller, is the approach of choice for most couples who are unhappy and struggling with the way their relationship has developed but who still "love" each other and are committed to make things better, for them as a couple, and for their children as well.