Mental coach and sport psychologist: confusion also among the psychologists

To work in sport performance is necessary to have a specific preparation. For the psychologist is necessary to have a university degree in sport psychology, as well as a physician becomes sport medical physician through post-graduate studies. This idea is quite simple, and in most other countries there are institutionalized paths to build these competences. Therefore the specialist in sports psychology is the professional who is responsible, for the training received, to do the work of mental coach. Why today it’s so widespread the use of the terms “mental coach.” The reason is that it’s used by anyone who wants to work in the psychology fieeld without having the degree, therefore it  has been found this expression, clear and understandable that allows to stay on the sport market (and beyond) without carrying illegally the  psychologist profession. Therefore anyone can be called mental coach without finding any opposition from institutions or organizations. Specifically these people propose miracles in short term to an environment that largely ignores the job of the sports psychologist . Often managers, coaches and athletes fall into this trap because they do not want to select truly competent consultant but they just want to dump their problems on someone else .

I’m really shocked by the interview that the psychologist Laura Messina wanted to give to those who asked what was the difference between a psychologist and mental coach. These are answers that continue to spread misconceptions, superficial and harmful to the world of sports

“But what is the difference between the psychologist and the mental coach?

The psychologist has specific training  focused on the behavior of individuals, their mental processes and the inner part of the conscious and unconscious. The mental coach does not work in a clinical setting, it has no competence to manage the psychological distress. He is focused on improving the performance, helping the individuals to express themselves at their best.

Besides a different training (the psychologist must have a degree, and the mental coach just a training course) is different the work context (the psychologist works on pathology and clinical recovery; the mental coach works in the field of motivation, concentration, performance) and the scope of intervention (the mental coach operates on a demand for improvement; the psychologist uses psychodiagnostic tools  and operates on a demand for change).

Underlined the differences I would say that it would be desirable that the two professionals could integrate synergistically and be complementary to an excellent result. “

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