|
|
|
Life Coaching: What
are the real benefits? |
Life Coaching vs.
Psychotherapy:
 Life
coaching is a relatively new service for assisting people in finding
more fulfillment in life, achieving goals, and getting more of whatever
it is that they are looking for in life. Individuals providing life
coaching seem to be quick to define the differences between the services
that they provide and those provided by professionally trained
counselors, psychotherapists and psychologists. In reading information
on life coaching on the internet, I continue to find statements such as
that psychotherapy analyzes “things from the past” and focuses on taking
you from dysfunction to function, whereas, life coaching emphasizes
“taking you from functioning to extraordinary“. As a licensed
psychologist who provides assessment and psychotherapy services on a
full-time basis in a private practice, I can appreciate some aspects of
the internet-based information that I am reading, but call into question
many other aspects of this information.
Life coaching should provide a different emphasis as it is presented.
Psychologists and other mental health clinicians are trained to diagnose
and treat a continuum of mental health conditions from adjustment
disorders related to life change and other difficulties that many people
experience, to the other end of the spectrum, which involves serious
mental health problems. Philosophically, the emphasis is quite different
between these two different types of professionals (assuming that they
have the training to be defined as a professional), with mental health
professionals primarily focusing on impairment in functioning, while
individuals providing life coaching emphasize growth and optimizing
opportunity. In reality, these distinctions are frequently not as
well-defined as many of the individuals providing life coaching services
state, and certainly reflect a lack of understanding of the many
varieties of psychotherapy, techniques and the various goals of mental
health treatment. Contemporary psychotherapy (i.e. cognitive-behavioral,
problem-solving approaches, rational emotive, some family systems
therapies) frequently does not focus in-depth on issues from the past,
as many individuals in the life coaching arena seem to imply. Much of
modern counseling is geared toward problem solving or dealing with
feelings or other problems in the “here and now“. We do focus on
impairment and subjective feelings of distress, but frequently these
issues are not of a level of severity as to be disabling, but more of
the quality which would more likely inhibit an individuals functioning
to some degree, or limit their sense of fulfillment in life.
Many of the life coaching web sites I have read recently, have stated
these philosophical differences and quickly conclude that they do not
provide psychotherapy. However, I don’t necessarily believe that an
individual can usually effectively help others to optimize their life
experience, without an in-depth knowledge of the “many faces of
impairment”, their various levels of intensity, and how they are
manifested in our daily experience. Many aspects of optimum functioning
and dysfunction are not obvious to individuals who lack training in
mental health. I’m not aware of how these individuals who lack training
in mental health assessment and treatment would even recognize where an
individual is located on a continuum from dysfunction to functioning ,
or would be able to analyze and assess the complex aspects of an
individual’s functioning. Mental health professionals are trained to
assess the many complexities of the human condition, including
biological, social and psychological considerations. To truly optimize
functioning you must have some ability to comprehensively analyze their
current bio-psycho-social state in order to determine whether
your
services are appropriate for their circumstances, in order to proceed
from that apparent baseline level of functioning. I have seen frequent
mention of dealing with mental health issues such as removing emotional
blocks and eliminating or reducing the effects of trauma which may be
inhibiting growth on these websites, although they seem to be quick to
remind you that they do not provide mental health services. The reason
that licensed clinicians are trained with a graduate-level mental health
education, residencies, internships and state level licensing, is to
provide a standard of quality for the public to ensure that people are
not harmed by individuals who do not have proper, relevant training. For
example, individuals who have been traumatized may go into flashbacks
and harm themselves and others when being treated for their traumatic
issues. In addition to being illegal (practicing without a license), the
consequences of being treated by an untrained mental health clinician
could possibly be catastrophic.
Life Coaching: My Recommendation
Life coaching may be a wonderful opportunity to reach toward your
personal goals and optimize your fulfillment in life. In order to reach
that level of satisfaction, I would recommend the following things: (1)
Find an experienced mental health clinician who has transitioned their
practice into life coaching. (2) Find someone you are personally
compatible with and have outstanding rapport. (3) Search for someone who
has completed an organized, accredited, systematic coaching program. (4)
Check references from individuals whom have been coached by this
individual (Who are not friends or relatives). (5) Make sure they have
some type of malpractice insurance coverage.
By Paul Susic MA Licensed Psychologist Ph.D Candidate
President/CEO Susic Psychological Consulting P.C.
|
|
