There is no duty so much underrated as the duty of being happy.

Robert Louis Stevenson

Published in last May's Psychological Science in the Public Interest journal, social psychologist Roy Baumeister conducted an extensive review of the research on school-based, self-esteem programs. He finds that such programs not only are irrelevant in achieving most goals—including raising grades—but they may also lead to worse grades, or to the kind of experimentation associated with drugs and adolescent sex. According to Baumeister's reexamination of these studies, self esteem counts for only a five- to seven-percent variance in academic performance and that self esteem is a result, not a cause, of good grades. Baumeister states, "There is no longer any justification for simply relying on anecdotes, impressions, and untested assumptions about the value of self-esteem."

The results of these studies illustrate how awry a coaching strategy can go without careful attention being paid to cause and effect. An effective coach needs to adjust strategies—as more and more data becomes available—in order to reach goals effectively.

A study by Charles Nemeroff of Emory University, which was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, indicates that the current belief that all depression is primarily caused by a chemical imbalance (a serotonin deficiency, to be specific) is too simplistic. For example, the study finds that a form of cognitive counseling alone is more effective for depressed clients who had suffered a childhood trauma than either medication alone, or both counseling and medication. According to Nemeroff, depression involving a history of childhood trauma may have a different physiological structure than other depressions and may require different treatment.

A study funded by the National Institute of Mental Health has found that the traditional teaching of "time outs" to those who commit domestic violence are often ineffective. The report states that time outs often morph from an anger-management tool into a weapon (for example, calling a time out as a way to "shut up" a partner). The study recommends using a new 7-step negotiated time out taught to both partners.

Although it's poor science to take a finding on perpetrators of domestic violence and apply it to all types of couples, there is a helpful lesson in this research: it's not enough to teach a technique once and expect people to apply it effectively. An experienced coach can adjust a technique as work progresses, to fit the needs of each couple and to remove any impediments to the technique working.

The May issue of the Psychotherapy Networker published the major points presented by a panel of substance-abuse experts detailing what works and what doesn't work in substance-abuse treatment. And some of the findings contradict long-held beliefs about how to treat these problems effectively:

• The type of help (counseling, AA, or recovery without treatment) doesn't matter. As long as the person moves through a process of facing the detrimental effects of substance use, learns more about its dangers, learns ways to reduce situations that make using substances more likely, and develops ways to say "no" when offered substances.
• People move through the stages of change documented by Prochaska and DiClemente: precontemplation ("the piano has been drinking...not me!"), contemplation, preparing to take action, action, and maintenance.
• Intense treatment of short duration is less successful than treatment that extends over time with little interruption.
• Therapeutic alliances (between a person and her sponsor, a person and his personal counselor) are crucial in treating substance abuse.
• Contrary to past practices, there is no research to support that high levels of intense confrontation ("interventions") are effective in getting a person to commit to long-term treatment or effective in the treatment itself. Listening and assisting the client in restructuring how they think about drinking is shown to be more effective.
• Social support is crucial to overcoming addiction and maintaining change.
• Therapists with a personal history of overcoming substance abuse are no more effective than those without such a history. However, counselors with a background in treating addictions fared better than those who did not.
• No one substance-abuse treatment is more successful than others. Among the treatments identified by the summary are motivational enhancement therapies, cognitive-behavioral counseling, and 12-step programs. Effective treatments are directive (the counselor teaches and gives advice frequently) and active, provide insight into the harmful nature of addiction, help build life skills, and strengthen important relationships.

Yet another cluster of studies finds that it is not enough to identify hurt; teaching skills and solving problems along the way is integral to emotionally healing.