Life Coaching/Therapy Myth #3
Imagine this. You’ve lost your job and your career seems to
be going nowhere. Your finances are a serious worry and the daily charades of
life seem to wear you out. Your relationship status stands at messed up and you
are up close and personal with an identity crisis. Mental health challenges
have manifested into physical ailments. Depressed and anxious you struggle to
stand strong against these extremely trying times. You seem to have tried it
all; fought your illness with medications and your mind with will power. You
even prayed every day for God to relent and cut you some slack. Yet you just
cannot get a grip on things and like bone china you seem to be slowly crumbling
apart.
MYTH: Life coaching and Therapy
is a pseudo-science, all mumbo-jumbo!
FACT: Now hopefully
(and thankfully) you may or may not be going through all of the above all at
the same time, however take one or a combination of any two and you still have
a pretty hard battle ahead. At such a point of time someone you know directs you to – a Life Coach; a Therapist.
Desperate for a resurrection you eagerly listen, go
through several testimonials and then - wait a minute; you stop dead in your
tracks. Why? Because you wonder, you are terribly concerned and you absolutely have
to know if life coaching/therapy is a pseudo-science before giving it a shot.
Seriously, do you really need scientific evidence to convince yourself to take
a chance at success?
No, I hear you say.
Then what is that which is truly stopping you? Are you
afraid of trying all over again? Are you scared to commit to your success after
a series of bouts with failure? Are you overwhelmed by the diversity of
practitioners out there? How do you go about finding a reliable life coach/therapist? Are you skeptical of the financial and
emotional investment? These would be more appropriate questions. For honestly
having been there, done that myself the last thing on my mind was the placebo
effect or any such scientific predicament. It was instead lack of clarity on
the above. So I took the first step. The decision to do it. The
rest followed suit with the help of some dedicated research on available life
coaches in my area, holistic practitioners and their references.
Having said that it’s ok to be concerned about the subject,
after all it has the possibility to bring about great results. Often people think
that life coaches or therapists choose to disregard science and instead like to
think of it as an art. But this common critique of the profession is filled
with misunderstandings and errors that lead people away from a deeper
understanding of the complexities that exist in the development and delivery of
evidence-based mental-health care. Let’s take a look at some reasons why
individuals often do not receive coaching/therapy based solely on what science
says to do.
Truth and Science:
Let’s talk about what science is not. Science is not the
same as truth. Science is just a method that moves us towards the truth. The
amount of effective interventions we have yet to uncover through research will
eventually dwarf what we have figured out thus far. Therefore it would be safe
to conclude that scientific studies that do exist are full of limitations and likelihood
that what is currently termed as a pseudo-science be proved as a scientific cure/breakthrough
at a later date.
Generalizations and
Science:
We all know that science generalizes in order to conclude.
The problem with research studies is that they isolate various mental health
issues whilst weighing them against a sizable randomized norm so as to come to an
evidence-based conclusion. However how often are two people alike? How often
are our models of the world identical in nature? Also for example; how often
does a person suffer from obesity only, without it being linked to a lack of
self-worth or any other limiting belief? What happens when a client approaches
a life coach or therapist with multiple issues? Should the life coach explain
to the client that while we do have a scientifically proven treatment for
obesity, we don’t yet have an evidence-based treatment protocol for combined
challenges? Please come back a few decades later? Obviously not. And so we use our
expertise to tailor an individualized coaching plan best suited to the client
history and current circumstances. Would this be what you refer to as
mumbo-jumbo?
Rapport and Science:
We must consider the role of the rapport between client and coach/therapist
as a potential variable that influences the outcomes of coaching and therapy. Surely
that’s not the only thing that’s needed. No coach/therapist is sitting around sipping
iced tea and making friendship bands with their clients. But a good therapeutic relationship is necessary
and a key ingredient that helps people succeed. A skilled coach or therapist
can help create a safe and comfortable environment to rebuild one’s capacity to
overcome and triumph. I wonder if we’ll ever be able to measure how the client-coach/therapist
rapport contributes to the healing process. I hope we do but what if we don’t? Does
that mean it’s therefore not part of what makes coaching and therapy useful?
In conclusion; evidence-based treatments are absolutely the
backbone of what coaches and practitioners should be using to help people. It
is great to know that various colleagues in academia continue to work
tirelessly to find evidence-based treatments for those seeking help. We need
those scientists working for us all, and science will certainly contribute to
our deepening understanding of psychological function and dysfunction. But
right now, let’s admit it; we just don’t have all the answers...as yet.
And so for now I will continue to work tirelessly to help individuals,
using everything I have in my arsenal. That includes evidence-based practices, knowledge,
skill, empathy and staying committed with those, fully aware that we perhaps don’t
have all the answers but continue to have the conviction and faith that together
we will surely move towards wellness and growth.
Contact Tasneem Kagalwalla for more information on how Life Coaching works best for you.
Click here for Therapy Myth #2 http://tasneemkagalwalla.blogspot.com/2014/10/therapy-myth-2.html
Click here for Therapy Myth #1 http://tasneemkagalwalla.blogspot.com/2014_09_01_archive.html
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