Life coaching - Yikes

[voyeurofthemind]

Does anyone else have concern about this encroachment on our field? It seems to me that this is just blantant unregulated practice of psychology without ever having gone through the required course work and supervised clinical work. For arguments sake -How is a life coach going to identify Major Depressive Disorder from an issue that is appropriate for non-clinical "coaching"?

An except from a particular site:

"However, the legislatures of Colorado have ceased to pursue this kind of a request after a hearings on the matter,[13] asserting that coaching is unlike therapy in that it does not focus on examining nor diagnosing the past, instead focusing on effecting change in a client's current and future behavior. "

I think we all know that psychological interventions focus not only on the past but also effecting change in current and future behavior. I did a thread search but didn't come up with anything on this topic - just curious about your thoughts.

This link is one of many that made my skin crawl (and it is not the worst of it, at least they attempt to make a haphazard distinction between therapy and lifecoaching) That being said it still sounds like unregulated clinical practice...

http://psychology.wikia.com/wiki/Life_coaching

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

It is just the latest area of encroachment. Unfortunately a lot of harm can come from the unregulated practice of psychotherapy, though it appears that few states will actually do anything about it. The problem is that there is no governing body (e.g. licensing board) that can step in and push for more formal sanctions, so people are left with few avenues to pursue. Colorado does have some of the worst protection, as they have been mentioned on here before. I believe they also have pretty laxed laws when it comes to 'alternative medicine.'

 

[wigflip]

I know two people who are transitioning into "life coaching." They are both sweet but dumb. One met me for a social outing, and subsequent to me making one of my trademark self-denigrating comments, s/he targeted me for a lecture on self-esteem, "the power of self-image." I refrained from punching her in the nose. Somehow.

There was a life coaching class at my well-regarded social work school. 😕

 

[KillerDiller]

I know two people who are transitioning into "life coaching." They are both sweet but dumb. One met me for a social outing, and subsequent to me making one of my trademark self-denigrating comments, s/he targeted me for a lecture on self-esteem, "the power of self-image." I refrained from punching her in the nose. Somehow.

There was a life coaching class at my well-regarded social work school. 😕

Yeah, I have the feeling that most life coaching boils down to this type of affirmational BS a la "The Secret." It harms people by putting forth the unfalsifiable premise that they can wish away all of their problems if they just think positively every second of the day. Reminds me of faith healing. I wonder if there is legislation against faith healers these days.

 

[wigflip]

Yeah, I have the feeling that most life coaching boils down to this type of affirmational BS a la "The Secret." It harms people by putting forth the unfalsifiable premise that they can wish away all of their problems if they just think positively every second of the day. Reminds me of faith healing. I wonder if there is legislation against faith healers these days.

I've had Barbara Ehrenreich's Bright-sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America on my shelf for ages. Need to give it a read. I recently discovered that she's not "just" a journalist, but has a STEM PhD too (bio-something).

Back to life coaching--there was some gawdawful TV show at some point with a bunch wimmins stuck in a house with two maniacal life coaches. One of the residents had lost a significant amount of weight (through WLS? don't recall, I just channel flipped there and watched a portion of that episode, horrified). Coachy #1 had Weight Loss Gal loading a wheelbarrow with lard and lugging it around. The show seemed to consist of a series of similar humiliations, followed by sessions where the participants were expected to share their subsequent "insights." Bleah.

 

[Doctor Eliza]

One thing I will say for life coaches...they have some sort of smarts....they didn't spend a decade of their life busting their butts to be paid peanuts by insurance companies! 🙂

Dr. E

 

[KillerDiller]

I've had Barbara Ehrenreich's Bright-sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America on my shelf for ages. Need to give it a read.

Yes! Great book.

 

[Sanman]

I've looked into life coaching. Because of the lack of a controlling board, it is a bit all over the place. However, the gist of what I have read is that it is for those who would not qualify for therapy and do not want something that intensive. Whether the goal is weight loss, getting a job/promotion, increasing business at your company ,etc, the coach works with you toward these goals. Most coaching after the initial session is done via phone or e-mail as needed to keep you on track. I have played with the idea of doing some coaching on the side while working to get my license. The whole thing can be run from a smart phone.

 

[KillerDiller]

However, the gist of what I have read is that it is for those who would not qualify for therapy and do not want something that intensive.

But who determines whether or not the client "qualifies" for therapy? What does that even mean?

 

[wigflip]

I've looked into life coaching. Because of the lack of a controlling board, it is a bit all over the place. However, the gist of what I have read is that it is for those who would not qualify for therapy and do not want something that intensive. Whether the goal is weight loss, getting a job/promotion, increasing business at your company ,etc, the coach works with you toward these goals. Most coaching after the initial session is done via phone or e-mail as needed to keep you on track. I have played with the idea of doing some coaching on the side while working to get my license. The whole thing can be run from a smart phone.

I don't know about the effectiveness of coaching for business success, but studies indicate that even moderate-term weight loss is possible for only <=5% of people (that's being generous). Weight loss "treatments" are a multi-billion dollar industry, but who here would advocate a "treatment" with at least a 95% failure rate? 😕

If people want to work on goals such as increasing cardiovascular fitness or changing the diet to include certain healthy foods that's fine, but encouraging people to conflate health with compliance with beauty norms, or to measure progress in terms of pounds lost is problematic at best.

 

[AcronymAllergy]

But who determines whether or not the client "qualifies" for therapy? What does that even mean?

Probably the client him/herself (unfortunately). I would hope all life coaches begin their initial meetings with a cautionary note that they aren't licensed mental health professionals, and aren't trained to diagnose or treat psychiatric/psychological disorders (sort of like the "not FDA approved" line that herbaceuticals carry). But I have a feeling my hopes may aim well high of the mark.

 

[wigflip]

But who determines whether or not the client "qualifies" for therapy? What does that even mean?

Yes. This is what I've always wondered. What if Sally's "time management deficits" are really the result of depression or similar?

 

[niknok]

Yes. This is what I've always wondered. What if Sally's "time management deficits" are really the result of depression or similar?

This is a big trend especially because mentall illness, therapy and mental health has such huge stigma attached too it. I was looking for psychologist in the philippines and all the "psychologist" aee advertising themselves as life coach. I thought it was interesting and in a way makes sense culturally speaking.

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

So a depressed person isn't really depressed to a life coach...they are just in need to improve their self-image and get motivated. Sweet! I wonder if they'd view someone who was bipolar as "just really happy some of the time, and not happy enough the rest of the time"....so they obviously need more balance in their life. More happy.

Ugh....I think I need a life coach to help me figure out why I suffered through 8 years of schooling instead of becoming an LC.

 

[FadedC]

I visited a private practice once that consisted of a LMHC and 2 life couches. They were big on primal and recovered memory therapy as well as hypnosis to "uncover" your history of abuse. Their website did note that the life couches were not therapists and not trained to deal with mental illness, but aparently it was fine to have them convince you that your sadness was not depression but the result of repressed memories of your father abusing you.

Sadly from what I can tell, they were extremely financially succesful.

So a depressed person isn't really depressed to a life coach...they are just in need to improve their self-image and get motivated. Sweet! I wonder if they'd view someone who was bipolar as "just really happy some of the time, and not happy enough the rest of the time"....so they obviously need more balance in their life. More happy.

Ugh....I think I need a life coach to help me figure out why I suffered through 8 years of schooling instead of becoming an LC.

 

[wigflip]

So a depressed person isn't really depressed to a life coach...they are just in need to improve their self-image and get motivated. Sweet! I wonder if they'd view someone who was bipolar as "just really happy some of the time, and not happy enough the rest of the time"....so they obviously need more balance in their life. More happy.

Ugh....I think I need a life coach to help me figure out why I suffered through 8 years of schooling instead of becoming an LC.

 

[Ollie123]

I actually think your exposure to this self-esteem "talk" is a perfect example of the problem with life coaches.

After decades of research, the basic conclusion seems to be that self-esteem holds relatively little utility in applied settings. Independent interventions targeting self-esteem seem to do virtually nothing. Self-esteem is an outcome, not an input. You get it from being successful, and is perhaps a marker of how life is going, but isn't really a meaningful treatment target. Its akin to telling someone whose life is falling apart to just "Be happy" and expecting that to fix things. That whole "self-esteem" movement that began in CA primary schools back in the day has been now shown to do absolutely nothing to improve outcomes aside from waste exorbitant amounts of money.

Of course, a fair number of psychologists totally ignore these things as well and do equally or more crazy things that are completely unsupported. I'll save my rant on EBP for another day, but suffice it to say that I think the resistance to EBP is what has largely opened the door for things like Life Coaching. If its just about clinical experience, making up unsupported theories, and the "Healing relationship", why on earth would training actually be necessary?

 

[aequitasveritas]

"Healing relationship"

Mind is really, really complex. Hard to create.

 

[clinical psych]

I think that it really depends on who is doing the life coaching. I know some people that are coaches and have the skills/knowledge to do it. Certainly there are others who probably are lacking in this department. There is a definite lack of oversight/regulations in the field. From what I understand, life coaches target non-clinical populations for the most part (at least the people I know of), so I don't know that they are necessarily encroaching on the field. But, of course, there are probably some life coaches that don't limit their coachees to non-clinical populations which is highly unethical.

I could see both sides; Pros and cons both ways I guess! Interesting topic for discussion!

 

[Sanman]

But who determines whether or not the client "qualifies" for therapy? What does that even mean?

The person seeking services does. The same way a person can choose to go to an herbalist, naturopath, or raw foods specialist instead of their neighborhood physician. Those guys don't take insurance either. Of course, the coach can refuse to see the person. Some might if they are worried about a lawsuit. Some might not do so. That is the danger of unregulated practice. However, a person is allowed to do with their money what they want. There are those who will be responsible and those that are selling snake oil. Caveat emptor

 

[Sanman]

I don't know about the effectiveness of coaching for business success, but studies indicate that even moderate-term weight loss is possible for only <=5% of people (that's being generous). Weight loss "treatments" are a multi-billion dollar industry, but who here would advocate a "treatment" with at least a 95% failure rate? 😕

If people want to work on goals such as increasing cardiovascular fitness or changing the diet to include certain healthy foods that's fine, but encouraging people to conflate health with compliance with beauty norms, or to measure progress in terms of pounds lost is problematic at best.

And yet that does not stop weight watchers, slim fast, or other muti-million dollar companies from taking advantage of that. From my (admittedly limited) knowledge of coaching, the goals are set by the client. Whether that is better cardiovascular health or losing ten pounds for your high school reunion is up to the client.

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

I actually think your exposure to this self-esteem "talk" is a perfect example of the problem with life coaches.

After decades of research, the basic conclusion seems to be that self-esteem holds relatively little utility in applied settings. Independent interventions targeting self-esteem seem to do virtually nothing. Self-esteem is an outcome, not an input. You get it from being successful, and is perhaps a marker of how life is going, but isn't really a meaningful treatment target. Its akin to telling someone whose life is falling apart to just "Be happy" and expecting that to fix things. That whole "self-esteem" movement that began in CA primary schools back in the day has been now shown to do absolutely nothing to improve outcomes aside from waste exorbitant amounts of money.

Of course, a fair number of psychologists totally ignore these things as well and do equally or more crazy things that are completely unsupported. I'll save my rant on EBP for another day, but suffice it to say that I think the resistance to EBP is what has largely opened the door for things like Life Coaching. If its just about clinical experience, making up unsupported theories, and the "Healing relationship", why on earth would training actually be necessary?

Hey now....just wait a minute. Research and logic have NO PLACE in a discussion of life coach training. Everyone knows that hard work and positive thinking exercises developed by LCs is sufficient treatment. Please refer to my earlier post about self-esteem.

 

[AcronymAllergy]

I visited a private practice once that consisted of a LMHC and 2 life couches. They were big on primal and recovered memory therapy as well as hypnosis to "uncover" your history of abuse. Their website did note that the life couches were not therapists and not trained to deal with mental illness, but aparently it was fine to have them convince you that your sadness was not depression but the result of repressed memories of your father abusing you.

Sadly from what I can tell, they were extremely financially succesful.

Probably because they can take advantage of what their clients think works without having to be bound by pesky things like ethics and evidence-based interventions.

And heck, if I were spending what some of those LC's charge per session, I'd sure really want it to work. Handing over the check each week might even result in a huge dissonance-induced cathartic release 😀

 

[wigflip]

And yet that does not stop weight watchers, slim fast, or other muti-million dollar companies from taking advantage of that. From my (admittedly limited) knowledge of coaching, the goals are set by the client. Whether that is better cardiovascular health or losing ten pounds for your high school reunion is up to the client.

Clients/patients want all kinds of things which which the empirical literature says are either contraindicated or ineffective (couples counseling for people in violent relationships comes to mind). Are you suggesting that because there is demand, "life coaches" are entitled to a piece of the weight loss industry's profits, regardless of the likely outcome for the client??

 

[wigflip]

I actually think your exposure to this self-esteem "talk" is a perfect example of the problem with life coaches.

+1
People out here love to talk about how batterers batter because they just have low self-esteem. I almost lose my mind every time I hear it.

 

[Sanman]

Clients/patients want all kinds of things which which the empirical literature says are either contraindicated or ineffective (couples counseling for people in violent relationships comes to mind). Are you suggesting that because there is demand, "life coaches" are entitled to a piece of the weight loss industry's profits, regardless of the likely outcome for the client??

I'm saying that regardless of what I think this will happen. Coaches are no different than any other unregulated practice. 'Holistic living' has become the newest trends along with yoga instructors, spiritual guides, raw foods experts, vitamin shots in smoothies, and, yes, coaches all to give you a more 'authentic' life. You can be angry about it, but it is the way life works. As psychologists, we are held to a higher ethical and legal standard than life coaches. However, there are plenty of psychologists will take advantage of these kinds of people. Does Woody Allen need years of psychoanalysis? Is there empirical literature that says so? Rarely will it be the case that ethical, research-based practice will make one as wealthy and exploiting society. Ask any doctor in California that makes a living prescribing pot to his/her patients whether it is more lucrative than ethical practice.

 

[JeyRo]

You guys would probably get a kick out of this:

http://www.pdi-online.com/

Coaching services for struggling psychology students, by a psychologist. 🙄 Seems almost predatory?