Science Daily reported on July 3, 2009 on study which appears in the journal, Psychological Science, which found what I, as a psychotherapist, have known for several decades - self help books don't help all that much and sometimes even make things worse.
Here is a snippert from the Science Daily article:
In times of doubt and uncertainty, many Americans turn to self-help books in search of encouragement, guidance and self-affirmation. The positive self-statements suggested in these books, such as "I am a lovable person" or "I will succeed," are designed to lift a person's low self-esteem and push them into positive action.
According to a recent study in Psychological Science, however, these statements can actually have the opposite effect.
Psychologists Joanne V. Wood and John W. Lee from the University of Waterloo, and W.Q. Elaine Perunovic from the University of New Brunswick, found that individuals with low self-esteem actually felt worse about themselves after repeating positive self-statements.
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