Millions of people across the planet are suffering from problems such as stress, depression, obesity, anxiety and other mental related problems on a daily basis. Many people are familiar with seeking assistance from a mental health expert like getting counseling; however, the recent trend among people with these problems is seeking support from a life coach.
Counseling has shown to be an effective method in assisting some individuals to manage their emotional health over the years. The fact, however, that counseling pays more attention to the past and has little to offer in assisting people to move on with their respective lives is one of the many setbacks of counseling.
For instance, most people suffering from depression are not happy with their life. Whether their relationship with people is poor, they have lost a sense of purpose, or are miserable at work; these people have dived into a state where depression arises.
By offering a type of talk therapy, counselors can now assist their clients in understanding the cause for their depression; thus, helping them dig into their emotional state and decisions made in the past. Counselors can provide some insights and reflections into their behaviors and choices during this process. Unluckily, counseling cannot go beyond this part.
While in life coaching, clients are inspired to focus on what they want to do or create for themselves. These clients are presented with assignments every week and motivation to assist them in achieving their goals so they can be who they want or do something new, eventually bringing them out of feeling depressed.
According to some clients reports, they feel much better after coaching sessions and prefer coaching sessions to counseling because life coaching focuses on the positive while counseling focuses on the negative. A a famous quote by Esther Jno-Charles describes this point best, according to her, “What you focus on expands.”
Nevertheless, most life coaches also reported that they find it challenging to support their clients when they are still trapped in the past because they still hold on to past emotions. Even though a life coach can assist their clients in achieving their goals, they still lack the proper training to help their client reflect on old disturbing wounds that their clients could be suffering from.
Both counseling and life coaching have their advantages despite the debate on which methodology is better in the human potential movement. Coaching focuses on the present and the future while counseling pays more attention to the client’s past. At the end of the day, the preferred methodology is dependent on what you want to achieve.
It is advisable you go for counseling first before consulting a life coach if you think your past emotions or behavior could have impacts on your current state of health.
