Coaching for Depression

Coaching is a powerful intervention that can quickly take us into choppy waters unless we are careful. Most coaching models advocate a questioning model and this is fine as long as we remember that we cannot legislate for the answers that we get.

What appears to be a day to day coaching issue may turn out to be a more significant concern and managers who coach would be wise to develop a basic understanding of the more common psychological problems.

Consider for example, depression: Depression is a widespread disorder which about 10% of men and 20% of women can expect to suffer at least once on their lives.

There are many signs and symptoms which even the untrained could recognize as indicators of depression:

Emotional Signs:

Guilt, misery, despair

Cognitive Signs:

Self-blame, Negative self-talk, Dejection

Motivational Signs:

Loss of energy, sex drive or appetite

Physical Signs:

Headache, Dizziness, Fatigue

There are several psychological theories concerning the causes of depression:

Psychoanalytical:

Freud (1917) interpreted depression as a reaction to loss. He suggested that depressed people are more excessively dependent upon other people for approval and positive self-esteem and that when this is absent depression results.

Behavioural:

These theories suggest that depression is a result of a lack of reinforcement i.e. the care and understanding of family and friends. Unfortunately this creates a vicious circle in that the depressive behaviour often further alienates friends and family.

Cognitive:

Beck (1967) found that it was people's self-perception; how they viewed themselves and the world around them that influenced the likelihood of suffering depression. He proposes that people with depression apply false logic and that any treatment needs to deal with such thought processes.

Physiological:

In the western world much energy and research has gone into establishing biochemical causes and cures for depression as our high usage of drugs such as Prozac and tranquillizers illustrates.

Depression has been likened to the common cold of psychological conditions. It would seem a lasting cure may be just as elusive. Doesn't it make you fed up?

What then of the coaching manager who uncovers these signs when coaching around workload management or time keeping? Best advice would seem to be to keep to good coaching principles. Ask questions designed to raise awareness, generate responsibility and build trust then listen carefully and attentively to the responses. This is highly unlikely to make things worse and may actually do quite a lot of good.

After that, it's a question of referring the coachee to the relevant professional. For this reason I recommend that all coaching managers familiarize themselves with their organization's welfare procedure.