My Critique of the "Life Coach"

In a recent post, I discussed one person's experience with a "Life Coach."  Now, I'm going to offer a critique. A fairly severe critique, as a matter of fact. We'll start off with her formulation or hypothesis that this trader's problems were due to unresolved conflicts about a personal loss. This sense of loss extended to his trading, resulting in poor performance. Her "theory was that when we lose money, it is not about the money. It is our way of acting out on losing people in our lives." Then, this trader said that, "looking deep into my life, it makes perfect sense to me."

What nonsense! Total BS! Psychobabble! We are acting out!? This is a thinly veiled reincarnation of "Fear of Success." Only, in this scenario, we are penalizing ourselves because we experienced a loss!? This trader lost his mother in 1998 - ten years ago, and this is the cause of his current problems? (Go back and review 12 Lies We Tell Ourselves)

We, as scientists, must learn to think critically when we come across such nonsense. Who among us, in the entire history of the Human Race has never experienced a loss? This is a universal experience. A given. An inescapable fact of life. This "life coach" didn't go out on a limb in proposing this, did she? She did what "psychics" and scam artists do. She tossed out a common experience, got a hit (the trader had to "look deep into his life" first), and then embellished on it.

"I did not realize how my mother's death impacted me in such a profound way. It feels (as if) a life's mystery has (been) revealed to me." A life's mystery? Really? Seriously? His mother dies ten years ago and he never realizes the profound impact her death had on him? Maybe, just maybe then, her death did not really have that profound an effect. Her death may have been expected due to advanced age or illness, for example. In such a case, psychological preparation for the death may have been going on well in advance of her death. Parenthetically, it is when death is sudden and unexpected, as with the death of a child or death in an accident, that we have the greatest difficulty coming to terms with that loss.

Now this trader never indicated what his problem was in the first place, or why he decided to go to a "life coach," or if this "coach" resolved his issues. He certainly never indicated that his trading got better. And he doesn't indicate that he's even making an effort to improve his trading. Instead, now he's spending his time "coming to terms with the loss of my mother, and my vulnerability."

This is my criticism of such "coaches." Like "psychics" and other scam artists, they don't take time to explore the individual in depth. Instead, they throw out hypotheses and see which ones stick. Then they embroider and embellish it, coaxing the person (victim) into revealing more, and weaving that all into a convincing story. Or, they have a one-size-fits-all approach to a person's problems and make everyone fit into their preferred formulation.They prey on the vulnerable and credulous. In this case, she took a completely unrelated problem and created a vulnerability where previously, none had existed before! She took a universal experience and turned it into a neurosis! And she not only got paid for doing so, she got this persons gratitude! Unbelievable!

I'm a doctor. And if I screwed up a patient like this, I would be sued!

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