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Systemic coaching does not replace
classical coaching. Classical coaching is useful when individuals make
decisions in controllable environments with simple objectives. Systemic
coaching is useful when making relationship decisions, especially in
complex environments or with ambiguous objectives.
Psychotheology
Shadows provide information about what obscures the light.
The ways in which people help people are evolving. The differences between
coaching, consulting, counseling, mentoring, intuiting, therapy and supervision
are often vague; changing quickly and disputed. Many descriptions appear
more esoteric than scientific ... we call them psychotheologies.
Each psychotheology has evangelists and detractors.
Each seems to have professional associations and litigious lawyers. Each seems
to have private languages, codes of conduct and official paperwork. Each claims
special methodologies and techniques. See
Comparison of Helping Styles
How do they compare?
They all claim to help people solve problems, find success,
enjoy relationships and control emotions. They all have similar roots.
They all support people. They all claim to help people move
from where they are now, to where they want to be. And all this fuss is about conversations!
Roots of Change
A psychiatrist may say,
"Psychotherapy didn't empty mental hospitals: Thorazine did".
The dawn of psychotherapy began around 1900, from
its origins in neurology (about 1850), animal magnetism (about 1800) and
medieval magic. Counseling has been recognized since about 1960, and life
coaching emerged around 1980. Our systemic coaching was mostly developed since 1990.
- Phineas Quimby,
an American mesmerist, wrote that wrong beliefs were the cause of
most life problems including disease. His work was the basis of the New
Thought movement, which was later repackaged as Positive Thinking
- a basis of modern coaching.
- Early psychotherapists Adler and Jung wrote
that people
are the creators of their lives, and involved their clients in goal setting,
life planning and creating their futures - what we now call coaching.
- Carl Rogers' book, Client Centered Therapy, helped
shift counseling and therapy to become relationships in which clients are assumed
to be able to change and develop - a shift towards coaching.
- Abraham Maslow’s book, Toward a Psychology of Being,
helped coaching emerge in the early 1990s. One of Maslow's post-doctoral
student, Dr Clare Graves, discovered a hierarchy of emergent human values -
one of the foundations of our systemic coaching.
These and other pioneers helped create a foundation for coaching.
Coaching integrates many fields to partner with people for their
success. Most coaching and consulting is for people who are healthy and
self-motivated, while most counseling and therapy is supposed to be for
people who suffer from psychological problems. An important question
is, "How can you recognize psychological problems?"
Psychological Problems & Mental Illness
Many psychological problems are characterized by
a lack of control, often with behaviors that involve unpleasant thoughts
and dysfunctional actions, such as compulsions, substance abuse or sexual
disorders. Some psychological problems may be called mental illness.
Mental illness is a very broad term that carries a burden of
social stigma, embarrassment and fear. Few people will admit that they or any
member of their family suffer from any kind of mental illness.
Psychiatry is a medical specialty. If
any of the following apply to you - we suggest that you seek medical or
psychiatric assistance:
- You lose or lack control of yourself
- You are often anxious and/or depressed
- You are in a severe health or emotional crisis
- You are considering harming yourself or others
- You have no friends and people seem to avoid you
- You are generally dysfunctional, immature or
irresponsible
- You need psychoactive medication, alcohol or
drugs to function
If you pass that ... probably you can focus on what
you want and on what makes sense in your life.
Coaching & Therapy: Comparison
Coaches usually assume the health and well-being of their clients,
while therapists may assume otherwise. See Solution
Focused Therapy. The following table summarizes some important differences
between our coaching and psychotherapy. See also
Alternative & Complementary Therapies.
|
Our Coaching |
Psychotherapy |
| For healthy people
who want to achieve a goal |
For people with
identifiable dysfunctions |
| Deals mostly with
a person’s present and future |
Deals mostly with
healing past trauma |
| Helps people achieve a defined success |
Helps people resolve old pain |
| A coach helps people choose ways to
discover their own answers and find their own power |
A therapist has the answers,
power and chooses techniques. A client is incompetent to choose. |
| Assumes emotions are natural and
normalizes them |
Assumes emotions are symptoms of
problems |
| A coach helps people identify their
goals and challenges, turn challenges into victories, and motivates people
to reach their goals. |
A therapist diagnoses, then provides
expertise and guidelines to provide a path to health. |
| Progress is usually rapid and enjoyable. |
Progress is usually slow and painful. |
|
Coaching is about discovery - therapy is about recovery! |
Evolution of Good Intentions
Every problem has many
solutions that are neat, simple and wrong.
Most people have good intentions when
they attempt to help others solve problems or devise new possibilities.
However, consequences do not care about the goodness of intentions.
This table compares the evolution of change-work.
(The comparison is simplified to highlight core concepts.)
|
|
Core Philosophy |
Core Methodology |
| 1. Survival |
I solve my problems ... or I die |
Trial & terror: pragmatic superstition. |
| 2. Archaic
therapies |
Our ancestors / powers / gods will bless
us if we do the right rituals |
Shamanism, Mesmerism and
energy work: solve problems by placating or applying esoteric forces. |
| 3. Authority |
We are THE experts. Our power and skill can
solve
your problems! |
Psychiatry & hypnotherapy: problems
result from biochemistry or from wrong beliefs that can
be installed by chemicals or hypnosis. |
| 4. Classical
therapies |
You can only change using the ways that
our founders developed |
Established psychotherapy: assume problems originate
in early family. Solve problems by (psycho)analyzing the cause of the problems. |
| 5. Success coaching |
Set goals and persuade others to get rewards
and to avoid failure |
Behavioral psychology: problems
result from conditioning and programming. Solve problems by rewarding
some behaviors and punishing others. |
| 6. Relationship
coaching |
Solve problems with self-esteem and better
relationship skills |
Humanistic psychology: problems originate
in poor relationships. Solve problems by providing a good
therapeutic relationship. |
| 7. Systemic coaching |
Develop human systems by resolving emotional
entanglements |
Couple, family and team coaching: problems
start in trauma and relationship entanglements. Solve problems by supporting
emotional maturity. |
| 8. Global coaching |
Coach leaders of human systems to
cooperate in a changing global environment |
Community coaching: coach leaders
to create adaptive power structures and cooperate with other leaders
to achieve global goals. |
Do you want coaching or coach training?
Do you want to resolve emotional and relationship challenges?
Online Coaching &
Mentorship
Plagiarism is theft. Copyright © Martyn Carruthers 2005-2012 All rights reserved
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