The Influence of Self-Help Books: Analyzing Their Value and Limitations. Titles like ‘The Power of Positive Thinking,’ ‘Men Are from Mars, Women Are From Venus,’ and ‘How to Win Friends and Influence People’ dominate the thriving billion-dollar self-help industry. Their goal is to explicitly increase self-awareness and to help readers change or improve some aspect of their personal lives. Though self-help books promise to enrich the lives of those who read them, it is important to consider that they are written for a broad audience and try to offer advice to as many people as possible, potentially neglecting the unique social context and individual differences from reader to reader.
WHY ARE SELF-HELP BOOKS NOT ALWAYS A GOOD IDEA?
- A lot of information and advice solicited in self-help books isn’t always backed with credible research.
A self-help book written by a licensed psychologist, psychiatrist, or physician may not have information backed by a certified or reputable governing body that would support the claims made in the book.
- The results promised in self-help books aren’t guaranteed.
You want to find a new, higher paying job so you consult a self-help book about maximizing success and negotiating higher salaries. You abide by the advice the author is giving to consult your management about your salary despite conflicting company policies and your tendency to lose your train of thought under stress. You don’t receive the raise. The problem with self-help books is that there isn’t much context (reader’s financial, social, demographic situation) to the advice being given to the reader, which may skew the results the book set out to accomplish. In turn, this may set the reader back further eliciting feelings of failure.
- A hit dog will holler.
Suppose you were finding it hard to communicate with your partner which would lead to arguments that would last for days. When looking for a self-help book to help guide you through the situation, you would naturally gravitate towards authors who share some commonality or induce a sense of familiarity. For example, if you are female, you may gravitate towards a female author. If you are the more outspoken, dominant partner you may gravitate towards books written in a more dominant, get things done voice. The problem with seeking advice from self-help books is that given the choice, we will always have an unconscious bias towards advice that is familiar or “safe” instead of getting an objective, non-biased view that may be helpful or offer insight, but we may not agree with.
- Self-help books may help you, but they help the author more.
It is important to remember that self-help books are an industry– the aim to make money giving the most applicable advice to the most amount of people. Do you find when reading the result of a personality test it seems so accurate to your life and what you’re experiencing? That’s because it is written to appeal to the experiences of the greatest number of readers while offering a false sense of individuality. This is also the aim of self-help books as the more people that find the book relatable while making them feel positively about changes, they are making in their lives, the more copies will sell.
Self-help books can be helpful to readers, provided they are used as a supplement to individualized counselling or consultation with a qualified professional around the areas of concern in the reader’s life. While they can serve as a valuable resource, it is important to consider as mentioned before that they cannot offer the context-informed and objective guidance that is offered through individual counselling.
At C.S. Counselling and Consulting Services under the leadership of founder Coslyn Selby, we specialize in private individual, couples’, and family counselling addressing depression, anxiety, alcohol and substance abuse, and navigation of legal proceedings with a healthy sense of self. We see both call-in and referred clients, and offer services in English, Hindi and Gujarati from RSW-registered professionals. At C.S. Counselling and Consulting Services it is our goal to work with you and/or your loved one to provide clarity while developing skills to cope during an otherwise stressful and challenging time.