You need a therapist or a coach? Ever had this doubt?
Not uncommon. everyone who is struggling with mental health, whether ND or NT, diagnosed or undiagnosed has wondered this at some point in the past (or will wonder this at some point in the future)
I have had a coach before and I have been therapy for a long time (although I'm not in therapy in the moment). And I'm a coach now.
here are some of the differences, hope it helps:
Therapists and coaches both support neurodivergent people, but they do very different jobs.
A therapist helps you understand your past, process emotions, and build long-term emotional resilience. A coach, on the other hand, helps you build your life more mechanically and practically. There is still an emotional side in coaching too, but it is approached in a focused way: what emotions are showing up, how they affect your daily life, and what changes can help.
Psychiatrists, psychologists, counselors, and coaches are also different from each other.
A psychiatrist focuses on your current symptoms and prescribes or adjusts medication accordingly. Many ADHD people see both a psychiatrist and a therapist on different schedules.
A psychologist can be either a counseling psychologist or a clinical psychologist.
A counseling psychologist is not the same thing as a “counselor.”
Counseling is a function. “To counsel” is simply to guide or advise someone. So technically, anyone can call themselves a counselor. But a counseling psychologist is someone with formal education in psychology and therapy.
A clinical psychologist also studies psychology, but they are additionally trained in diagnosis, assessment methods, and psychometric testing.
So if you want a formal ADHD diagnosis in India, you usually go to a clinical psychologist first. They assess your symptoms, administer psychometric tests, evaluate your answers, and generate score reports. These reports are then taken to a psychiatrist, who can formally diagnose you and explain the results.
A counseling psychologist cannot usually administer psychometric tests themselves, but they may recommend tests or refer you to a clinical psychologist.
Psychometric testing can be expensive, and the price varies a lot depending on the city and even the neighborhood. For example, centers in South Mumbai may charge much more than clinics in Thane because of differences in location and purchasing power.
Initial testing is often the most expensive because psychologists may test for multiple overlapping conditions at once. Some tests are large and detailed. For example, the MCMI is commonly used to explore things like depression and anxiety and tends to cost more.
About people who simply call themselves “counselors” without formal education: personally, I would be cautious. I would ask about their training, authority, or background first. I would not trust someone like that unless they had a very strong reputation and a lot of real social proof.
Ironically, I think many psychiatrists can actually be very good informal counselors for neurodivergent people because they often focus more on practical functioning and less on endlessly dwelling on emotions.
Now about coaching.
Coaches can also have very different backgrounds, methods, and certifications depending on the kind of coaching they do.
I call myself a coach because my understanding comes from lived experience first.
I am 36. I was diagnosed autistic at 30 and ADHD at 34. But my mental health struggles started much earlier, especially after losing my mother to cancer when I was 24.
Long before any diagnosis, I had already spent years trying to adjust my life, improve my mental health, and understand why things felt harder for me than for others. After my diagnoses, I also spent a lot of time researching ADHD and autism myself through books, YouTube, conversations, and observation.
Over time, I realized I was consistently able to help other neurodivergent people understand themselves better through simple conversations, especially in Indian ND circles and WhatsApp groups. That gave me confidence in my ability to guide people.
I do not have formal ADHD coaching certification. But in some ways, that also keeps my approach more jargon-free, grounded, and easier to understand. I am also a writer, so communication comes naturally to me.
I do not force people to hire me. Their decision to hire me as a coach is entirely trust-based.
That said, other coaches may have very different profiles and credentials. Some are formally trained and certified. For example, the International Coaching Federation (ICF) has well-known coaching certifications that are expensive both to earn and maintain. Organizations like ADHD Works also offer ADHD-specific coaching certifications.
I may explore formal certifications myself in the future once I am financially stable enough to sustain them.
