Why a Life Coach can be good for your Health

A patient once told me that the medicine for her migraines was helping but she was still not feeling one hundred percent. She was not handling the stress at work and at home. After a few more searching questions, I took a prescription pad and wrote “book a flight and go and see your family in India”. She sent me a postcard thanking me for this “perfect medicine”.  I treated another older lady with a prescription to “go visit the Vatican in Rome”.  It gave her a second lease of life. I also like to “prescribe” books or movies to make some of my patients feel better. Not all prescriptions require a pharmacist.



As a Family Doctor I have the privilege to get to know a patient not just by their symptoms. I usually know their families and circumstances very well. It is our role to listen and find the “hidden agenda” and very important to relieve or reduce the suffering of our patients both physically and emotionally.

As many people know, the body manifests the workings of the mind and symptoms can be psychosomatic (from the Greek "psycho" which means mind and "soma" which means body). In order to look after the mental or emotional health of my patients I have many times to make informed decisions together with the patients on the right therapist for them.  These are generally patients who fail to improve physically despite all pharmacologic interventions or those patients who seek anti-depressants for their feelings of anxiety, stress, grief and who feel they are not coping with work or family life.



Mental Health Professionals offer very high quality (evidence-based) and efficient interventions, usually on a long-term basis:



1)      Psychiatrists – Help patients with behavioral difficulties, substance abuse problems and mental health disorders (such as bi-polar, OCD, schizophrenia), who may require medications (psychopharmacological intervention)

2)      Clinical Psychologists – can help patients talk through their difficulties and some are specialized in particular  stressful situations like adjustment or migration issues, or divorce, or illness or grief counseling.

3)      Psychoanalysts –  are trained to uncover the patients’ unconscious motivations through intense, long-term therapy and analysis of the past.



Although this is the safest setting to express feelings and to increase effectiveness in their life and work the downside is the stigma and the cost. Many patients feel they don’t need a mental health professional but are open to alternative therapies, such as homeopathy, meditation and acupuncture. Certainly exercise has a beneficial role and some diets too may affect the patient’s emotional status.



Having had the privilege of meeting an excellent Life Coach who was born in Colombia, studied in Brazil, lived in Paris and is now living in New York City, I found another excellent source of referral. I have noted that her interventions with many of my patients have been constructive and successful. She explained to me that instead of looking and analyzing the past, the Life Coach is more about the present and the future.



I asked Liz Polania to tell you more about her Life Coaching and what it entails as I have seen some of the amazing changes in lifestyles experienced by patients in just a few sessions. We can call these sessions therapeutic because any change for the better is therapeutic in itself.

Albert Levy MD

LIZ POLANIA, Life Coach

"People often face challenges with their careers, their relationships with relatives and family or simply with themselves and the fulfillment they get out of life.

Life Coaching is a practice that helps people address these challenges, considering emotional, intellectual and even physical needs:

It helps patients:

-          Understand what is happening in their present life

-          Be aware of the unique way they operate

-          Consider and engage in positive changes, with quick and sustainable effect. 

As a Life Coach, I provide a safe context for self development through the identification of the underlying – latent – strengths needed to overcome obstacles. I help craft valuable goals and outline and execute a meaningful personal project to reach them. Each of the project action steps then becomes an opportunity for the patient to learn and grow, while experiencing concrete life improvement.

My practice as a Life Coach also includes mindfulness, relaxation and breathing techniques, neuro-linguistic programming and active listening. I have repeatedly observed the benefits of a quiet practice where patients feel comfortable, rejuvenated, lighter and in peace within themselves.

As a result of the Life Coaching process, my patients enjoy significant improvement in their health, professional realization and social or personal well being."

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