Psychologist / Clinical Sexologist
What is the difference between sex therapy and sex coaching?
Does it matter?
The main difference between sex coaching and sex therapy is based on the modality of working. Both therapists preferably have a doctorate and master’s in clinical psychology and training in sex therapy/ sexology. If not, this is probably not an appropriate choice.
A sex therapist typically explores a person’s past and goes into their childhood to help them heal their past wounds through coping skills and self-care and often trauma work. Sex therapy is based on several forms of therapy that work best for the client, grounded on the actual need and catalyst for treatment. This is more in depth and a deeper level of therapy consuming a broader sense of therapy.
Sex coaching, on the other hand, looks at what is going on in the present moment and moves the client(s) forward to their end goal with very little concern of history. A person’s past experience will often be a part of the conversation for a brief period of time since important information can be there that is needed to move the client forward. Both help clients with their sexual concerns. Sex coaching is usually solution focused oriented which means the therapist and client are more about getting the goal at hand addressed as soon as possible without focusing on the why or the nature of the origin of the concern. In general, sex coaching is a more of a short-term therapy.