Author's note: Three columns on identifying and pursuing your work-life goals, prompted a large response. I received several emails, phone calls and letters asking
me about the array of work-life interventions. Specifically, they wanted to know the
difference between: career coaching, psychoanalytic psychotherapy and psychoanalysis. Also,
readers wanted to know, how they might assess whether any of these sorts of work-life
interventions might be helpful to them and if so, which ones.
How does a person assess whether they need help clarifying and resolving work-life issues?
And, after deciding that help might be useful, how does a person know what sort of
intervention to seek? An important starting point is to identify the work-life conflict. In
general, people struggle with three work-life conflicts.
For some people, answering these questions is straightforward. They know themselves well.
They know their likes and dislikes and their strengths and limitations. They know what they
want and their self-esteem is solid enough that they are able to tenaciously pursue their
work-life goals. Others may have less clarity or less confidence. But, they may be able to
make use of the plethora of books on this topic or the support of family and friends in their
efforts to clarify the answers to these questions. Yet, not everyone can answer these
questions for themselves. In fact, some people never find an enjoyable and rewarding
career. And, some never achieve their financial goals. This is unfortunate in that, for the
most part, with the right kind of help, career conflicts can be resolved.
How does one assess whether help is warranted and if so, what type?
How then, should those people who find themselves thwarted, go about assessing whether
and what sort of help is warranted?
My own bias is to encourage anyone in that situation to seek a psychoanalytically-informed,
career assessment. This type of evaluation is devoted to understanding the meaning of the
career conflict. That is, what function, or purpose, does the career conflict serve? At first
blush, to most people, this may seem like an odd question. However, the fact is that when any
of us have a conflict, we derive some benefits (often, unconscious) from it. For example, the
man whose work-a-holism causes him to lose his marriage may be very sad about that loss.
However, simultaneously, (often, unconsciously) he may be very frightened of intimacy.
Thus, his workaholism may allow him to avoid closeness. The task of the psychoanalytically-informed
career assessment is to begin to understand the career conflict in a broader context. That is, the goal
of the career assessment, is, in part, to understand how the career conflict protects the individual.
A psychoanalytically-informed assessment asks, what are the origins of this conflict? It
attempts to understand the individual in the broader context of their historical and current
life situation. With regard to history it asks, what was this individual's early experience like
in the world of school, work and home? What sorts of attitudes, views and feelings did their
parents convey about the world of school and the world of work? What views did they
convey about the world of money?
With regard to the current situation, who are the key people in the individual's life and what
impact will the individual's career decisions have on these relationships? What did/do the
individual's parents and siblings do, occupationally? Does the individual view them as
successful? Does the individual view themselves as successful? How might the individual's
career "success" or "failure" effect these significant people? Are they a source of support
or are the conflict about the individual's attempt to resolve these difficulties.
A psychoanalytically-informed career assessment explores whether, and if so, how, the
individual's career difficulty is recapitulated in other areas of the individual's life. For
example, does the person who has difficulties committing to a career also have difficulties
committing to relationships?
The answers to these questions will inform a recommendation as to whether career coaching,
psychoanalytic psychotherapy or psychoanalysis is warranted. What are each of these
interventions and under what circumstances might they be useful?
The best way to know which sort of help is appropriate in a given situation is to seek
evaluation with a professional who is knowledgeable about, and trained in, career coaching,
psychotherapy and psychoanalysis.
What credentials should the work-life consultant have?
There are a wide range of professionals, with a diversity of backgrounds, who do career
coaching. Many of these professionals can be quite helpful. However, in pursuing a
psychoanalytically-informed, career assessment, it is important to seek a professional who is
knowledgeable about and qualified to conduct career coaching, psychotherapy and
psychoanalysis. In this way, the professional can carefully consider the potential usefulness
of each of these interventions for the individual.
What is Career Coaching?
Most people, who seek out work-life consultation, are hoping for a short-term, focused,
intervention that will allow them to quickly address their concern and get on with the task at
hand: that is, the identification and pursuit of the career goal. And, for many people, this
type of intervention can be incredibly helpful.
Career coaching, conducted individually or in a group, entails supportive relationships in which
the individual is helped to establish and pursue concrete, measurable, behavioral goals. The
coach and/or the group members function as a supporting cast encouraging the individual and
helping them to devise and implement effective strategies for pursuing their goals. Each
week the individual makes a commitment to take small steps toward the identification or
pursuit of the career goal.
While this approach can be valuable for many people, particularly those who have not had
much exposure or modeling as to how to go about pursuing work-life goals, it is not useful for
everyone. Take, for example, the individual who has read numerous career books, attempted
career exercises, taken a battery of a career tests but remains stymied. The fact that
none of the self-help efforts have proved effective is a warning sign that career coaching is
not likely to be comprehensive enough to help that type of individual. In fact, it can be
enormously frustrating, particularly in a group, where the individual witnesses others
progress, but finds themselves unable to change. For this type of individual, career coaching
is not helpful because the true conflicts are outside of their awareness. A deeper approach
aimed at bringing the conflict into awareness, where it can be resolved, is more likely to
prove effective. Ideally, people in this situation, should seek a psychoanalytically-informed,
assessment to evaluate whether psychoanalytic psychotherapy or psychoanalysis might be
effective in helping them to fulfil their personal and professional goals.
What is psychoanalytic psychotherapy?
Psychoanalytic psychotherapy is devoted to helping the individual to deepen their
self-understanding. Typically, psychoanalytic psychotherapy meets once, twice or three
times a week over a period of many months or years. Individuals are asked to share their
thoughts, feelings and views and to reflect on their early and current life. Increased
self-examination leads to a greater awareness of the obstacles that have prevented them
from pursuing their goals. Psychoanalytic psychotherapy attempts to address a primary
struggle but does not undertake the broader and more complex task of attempting
fundamental personality or character change. And, while for many people it can be very
helpful, for others it does not afford the necessary intensity to truly allow the kind of
self-exploration that will lead to bedrock change.
What is psychoanalysis?
Psychoanalysis is a highly potent form of intensive psychotherapy. The goal of psychoanalysis
is to help the individual to deepen their self-understanding, to become more self-aware and
to make enduring personality changes. For example, analysis can be very useful in
overcoming longstanding difficulties with identifying and pursuing work-life goals,
depression, anxiety, commitment, authority figures, love relationships, work inhibition,
decision making, identity, intimacy, assertion, low self-esteem, writer's block and
self-expression as well as other persistent maladaptive behavior patterns.
Analysis usually meets four or five times a week over a period of several years with the aim
of facilitating lasting, personality change.
How does analysis work?
The goal of psychoanalysis is: "to make the unconscious conscious". That is, to help the
individual to become aware of motivations underlying their thoughts, feelings and behaviors
that have previously been obscure.
Individuals are asked to share as much as they can about their internal world.
Self-exploration is encouraged in many ways. The individual is encouraged to say anything
that comes to mind, without regard to social convention, this is called, "free association".
Dreams, said by Freud to be the "royal road to the unconscious" provide another portal of
entry into the unconscious. Dreams can be a very useful tool in bringing into awareness ones
unconscious motivations and feelings. The analyst's role is to clarify and to interpret, not to
render judgement.
Who are the analysts and how are they trained?
Psychoanalysts come from many varied academic backgrounds including, clinical psychology,
educational psychology, psychiatry, social work, nursing and pastoral care. After earning
formal degrees, within a university setting, and becoming licensed, these therapists typically
pursue postgraduate training and practice as therapists for many years, seeing patients in
intensive psychotherapy, before entering analytic training. Thus, analysts are the most highly
trained groups of mental health professionals.
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