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Many people who struggle with their mental health seek out treatment in the form of therapy, hoping to develop skills to cope with issues like anxiety and depression. Even celebrities take steps to address their mental health concerns, including SZA. However, the "Kill Bill" singer once mistakenly sought help from a life coach for months before realizing they weren't a therapist.
The SOS musician recently opened up to WSJ. Magazine about her own mental health for the November Innovator's issue dropping November 11, including still feeling anxious at big events.
"Sometimes when I'm in those situations, it makes me more anxious, because I'm like, 'Damn, they're about to judge me for being a b----, or quiet, or looking rude," she said. "It's everything, it's not you, it's me, and I'm freaking out, and I don't know how to be any different right now."
SZA revealed that she has tried several different therapies to address difficult emotions, from hypnotherapy and psychiatry to talk therapy and acupuncture, per People.
At one point, she sought help from a counselor she believed to be a licensed therapist but in reality was actually a life coach. She realized the mistake when the coach taught her about box breathing, a method of counting and measuring breaths to hopefully help soothe anxiety, but it wasn't working for her.
"After I had box breathed myself for three months and didn't get better. I called her in a f------ frenzy like, 'I'm about to commit myself to an institution today, I need help!'" she recalled. "I said, 'What form of therapy do you do? DBT [dialectical behavior therapy]?'"
That's when she learned about the mishap, saying, "She was like, 'I don't have a clinical form of therapy because I'm not a licensed therapist, honey. I thought you knew that.' It turns out she was not a board-certified therapist. She was a f------ life coach."
According to People, while both professions aim to help others, the main difference between a life coach and a therapist is that a life coach doesn't need a medical degree. However, some life coaches do undergo training.