Where Life Coaching Ends and Therapy Begins: Toward a Less Confusing Treatment Landscape

“Life coaching” is a rapidly expanding profession born out of an unmet need for help effecting change, frustration with traditional models, the stigma attached to seeking care, and the online “Uberization” of many new services. But the distinctions often drawn between life coaching and psychotherapy...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Perspectives on psychological science Vol. 15; no. 4; pp. 973 - 977
Main Author: Aboujaoude, Elias
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.07.2020
SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
Subjects:
Coaching
Confusion
Education
Efficacy
Frustration
Health education
Helping professions
Legislation
Licensing
Life
Medical treatment
Mental disorders
Mental health
Mental health services
Modeling (Psychology)
Patient safety
Patients
Personal development
Professions
Psychotherapy
Safety
Stigma
Supervision
Training
Treatment methods
Vulnerability
executive coaching
treatment
comparative psychology
disruptive technology
behavioral economics
coaching
community psychology
psychotherapy
ISSN:1745-6916, 1745-6924, 1745-6924
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:“Life coaching” is a rapidly expanding profession born out of an unmet need for help effecting change, frustration with traditional models, the stigma attached to seeking care, and the online “Uberization” of many new services. But the distinctions often drawn between life coaching and psychotherapy are increasingly blurry, raise important questions about where coaching ends and therapy begins, and risk confusion between the two helping professions among vulnerable patients. This is potentially serious, in part because life coaching operates in a regulatory vacuum, with no education, training, licensing, or supervision requirements for coaches and no specific legal protections for any harmed clients. Although increased access to new forms of help is a positive development, the risk that mentally ill patients may undergo life coaching rather than receive proven psychotherapy treatments raises concerns about patient safety. It can also trigger fears of professional replacement among mental health providers whose education, preparation, and practice parameters are rigorously defined and closely scrutinized. More research is needed to prove the efficacy and safety of life-coaching modalities, and meaningful action is required at the level of training, oversight, and legislation to help protect patients and clarify roles.
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ISSN:1745-6916
1745-6924
1745-6924
DOI:10.1177/1745691620904962