Self-help
146075
224989876
2008-07-11T10:02:55Z
TripleThree
5037241
/* History */
{{for|the sense of a legal doctrine|Self-help (law)}}
{{POV|date=December 2007}}
{{Expand|date=July 2007}}
{{wiktionary}}'''Self-help''' or '''self-improvement''' refers to self-guided improvement<ref name="APA">''APA Dictionary of Psychology'', 1st ed., Gary R. VandenBos, ed., Washington: American Psychological Association, 2007.</ref>—economically, intellectually, or emotionally—most frequently with a substantial psychological or spiritual basis.
The basis for self-help is often self-reliance, publicly available information, or [[support groups]] where people in similar situations<!-- "using problems is negative --> join together.<ref name="APA"/> From early exemplars in self-driven legal practice<ref name="Salerno 2005">Steve Salerno (2005) ''Sham: How the Self-Help Movement Made America Helpless'', ISBN 1-4000-5409-5 p.24-25</ref> and home-spun advice, the connotations of the phrase have spread and often apply particularly to [[education]], [[business]], [[psychology|psychological]] or [[psychotherapy|psychotherapeutic]] nostrums, purveyed through the popular genre of [[self-help book]]s and through self-help personal-development movements. According to the ''APA Dictionary of Psychology'', potential benefits of self-help groups that professionals may not be able to provide include friendship, emotional support, experiential knowledge, identity, meaningful roles, and a sense of belonging.<ref name="APA"/> Any health condition can find a self-help method or group such as parents of the [[mentally ill]]. But there are limits and these methods do not work for everyone. As well as experienced long time members sharing experiences with a similar practical problem such as [[finance]]s of a health problem, these health groups can become [[lobby group]]s and educational material clearing houses. Those who help themselves by learning about health problems are helping themselves through self-help. But self-help in this context is often really [[peer]]-to-peer support.
==Sociological theories of self-help==
An expansion of the [[technology|technologies]] that [[empowerment|empower]] individuals to conduct both trivial and profound activities binds together the diverse genres which apply self-help concepts{{Fact|date=February 2007}}. Self-help book-publishing arose from decentralization of ideology, from a growth of publishing industries using expanded printing technologies and (at the pinnacle of growth<!--when?-->) from the spread of new psychological sciences{{Fact|date=February 2007}}. Likewise, self-help legal services grew around expanded access to document-production technology (viz: the printing industry in the 18th century).{{Fact|date=September 2007}} The [[Internet]], with the ever-expanding selection of commercial and information services which it offers for free, exemplifies movement toward self-help on a grand scale.{{Fact|date=September 2007}}
==History==
The authors of ''[[First Things First (book)|First Things First]]'' invoke [[wisdom literature]] dating back as far as 2500 B.C. as a validation of their particular enumeration of fundamental human needs<ref>Covey, Stephen R., Merrill, A. Roger, and Merrill, Rebecca R., ''First Things First: to live, to love, to learn, to leave a legacy''. New York: Simon and Schuster (1994)</ref>. Within Classical Antiquity, the advice poetry of [[Hesiod]], particularly his [[Works and Days]], has been seen as an early adaptation of Near Eastern wisdom literature. The [[Stoics]] offered advice with a psychological flavor. The genre of [[mirror-of-princes writing]]s, which has a long history in [[Islamic]] and Western [[Renaissance]] literature, represents a secular cognate of Biblical wisdom literature. [[Proverbs]] from many periods embody traditional moral and practical advice of diverse cultures.
"Self-help" appears to have been first used in the legal context, referring to the doctrine that a party in a dispute has the right to use lawful means on their own initiative to remedy a wrong.
[[Samuel Smiles]] (1812-1904) published the first self-consciously personal-development "self-help" book — entitled ''[[Self-Help (book)|Self-Help]]'' — in 1859. Its opening sentence: "''Heaven helps those who help themselves''", provides a variation of "''God helps them that help themselves''", the oft-quoted [[maxim (saying)|maxim]] that also appeared previously in [[Benjamin Franklin]]'s ''[[Poor Richard's Almanac]]'' (1733 - 1758). [[Alcoholics Anonymous]] was started by two alcoholics, [[Bill W.|Bill Wilson]] and Dr. [[Bob Smith (doctor)|Bob Smith]] who first met on May 12, 1935. The [[twelve-step program]] grew from this to become perhaps the world's most popular basis of self-help care.{{Fact|date=September 2007}}
[[Dale Carnegie]] (1888-1955) is often considered to have began the self-help movement in the 20th century when he published ''[[How to Win Friends and Influence People]]'' in 1936. Having failed in several careers, Carnegie became fascinated with success and its link to [[self-confidence]], and studied the subject for years. Carnegie's books have since sold over 50 million copies.<ref>O'Neil, William J. (2003). ''Business Leaders & Success: 55 Top Business Leaders & How They Achieved Greatness''. [[McGraw-Hill Professional]]. pp. 35-36. ISBN 0071426809</ref> [[Napoleon Hill|Napoleon Hill's]] ''[[Think and Grow Rich]]'' (1937) described the use of repeated positive thoughts to attract happiness and wealth by taping into an "Infinite Intelligence".<ref>Starker, Steven (2002). ''Oracle at the Supermarket: The American Preoccupation With Self-Help Books''. Transaction Publishers. p. 62. ISBN 0765809648</ref>
== The self-help marketplace ==
Research firm [[Marketdata]] estimated the "self-improvement" market <!-- worldwide? --> as worth $8.5 billion in 2003 — including [[infomercial]]s, [[mail-order catalog]]s, [[holistic]] institutes, books, [[Compact Cassette|audio cassette]]s, [[motivational speaker]] seminars, the [[personal coaching]] market, [[weight loss|weight-loss]] and [[stress management|stress-management]] programs. Marketdata projected that the total market size would grow to over $11 billion by 2008.{{Fact|date=September 2007}}
Within the context of this larger market, group and corporate attempts to aid the "seeker" have moved into the "self-help" marketplace, with [[Large Group Awareness Training|LGAT]]s and [[psychotherapy]] systems ready with more or less pre-packaged solutions to instruct people seeking their own individual betterment.{{Fact|date=September 2007}}
There is also a market of computer self-help books such as the [[...for Dummies|Dummies Guides]] and the [[The Complete Idiot's Guide to...]].
==Criticisms==
Some critics have suggested that self-help books and programs offer "easy answers" to difficult personal problems. Commentators have criticised self-help books for containing [[pseudoscience|pseudo-scientific]] assertions that tend to mislead the consumer, and many different authors have criticized self-help authors and claims. [[Christopher Buckley]]'s book ''God is My Broker'' (1998) asserts: "The only way to get rich from a self-help book is to write one."<ref>[http://amazon.com/dp/0060977612 Amazon.com editorial review of ''God Is My Broker'']</ref> In her 1993 book ''[[I'm Dysfunctional, You're Dysfunctional]]'', [[Wendy Kaminer]] criticizes the self-help movement for encouraging people to focus on individual self-improvement (rather than joining collective [[social movements]]) to solve their problems.
The phenomenon has been the target of [[parody|parodies]]. [[Walker Percy]]'s ''Lost in the Cosmos''<ref>''Lost in the Cosmos: The Last Self-Help Book''. New York: Farrar, Straus, 1983.</ref> is a book-length parody. In their 2006 book ''Secrets of The Superoptimist'', authors W.R. Morton & Nathanel Whitten revealed the concept of "superoptimism" as a humorous antidote to the overblown self-help book category. In his comedy special ''[[Complaints and Grievances]]'', [[George Carlin]] observes that there is "no such thing" as self-help: if one is looking for help from someone else, it is not technically "self" help; and if one accomplishes something by themselves, they didn't need help to begin with.<ref>{{cite video
| people = Carlin, George
| title = Complaints and Grievances
| medium = DVD
| publisher = Atlantic Records
| location =
| date = 2001-11-17}}</ref>
Scholars also have targeted self-help claims as misleading and incorrect. In 2005 [[Steve Salerno]] portrays the self-help movement (he uses the acronym ''SHAM: the Self-Help and Actualization Movement'') not only as ineffective in achieving its goals, but also as socially harmful.<ref name="Salerno 2005"/> Sociologist [[Micki McGee]] argues in her 2005 book ''[[Self-Help, Inc.]]'' that the burgeoning self-improvement industry masks Americans' economic anxieties during a period of economic decline. She sees Americans as "belabored" — at work on themselves, inventing and re-inventing themselves so as to remain employed and employable.
There are a number of self-help groups and programs offered by commercial and non-profit organizations based on psychological principles overseen by mental health professionals. Group psychotherapy has shown for certain situations to be as effective as individual psychotherapy.<ref name="Piper 1993">Piper, W. E. (1993) Research on Group Psychotherapy. In ''Comprehensive Group Psychotherapy'' In Kaplan, HI., & Sadock, BJ., (Eds.). Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins.</ref> Psychologists generally recommend empirically validated therapies, for example, [[cognitive behavioural therapy]] which has strong clinical evidence for treatment of various mental health disorders such as anxiety, depression and stress-related symptoms.{{Fact|date=September 2007}}
==See also==
* [[Conduct book]]
* [[Do it yourself]]
* [[Mirror-of-princes writing]]
* [[Mutual aid society|Mutual Aid Societies]]
* [[Nightingale Conant]] - a major provider of self-help materials
* [[Self-experimentation]]
* [[Self (psychology)]]
* [[Wisdom literature]]
* [[Self Help Development International]] - an Irish development agency.
For articles on individual:
* [[:Category:Self-help books|Self-help books]]
* [[:Category:Self-help writers|Self-help writers]]
==Footnotes==
{{Reflist}}
<!--
==External links==
-->
<!--Please do not add external links to self-help books, dictionaries, or articles made by personal development writers. There are thousands of such works and examples would unfairly promote just some of them. The Open Directory Project strives to organise all these links.-->
<!--How to we show a link to the WP category page for 'self-help' books, which would enable us to piggy-back on the work that has been done to screen the "notable" ones, at least.-->
[[Category:Personal development]]
[[Category:Self-care]]
[[Category:Self]]
[[de:Selbsthilfegruppe]]
[[es:Autoayuda]]
[[ja:セルフヘルプ]]
[[ja:自助グループ]]
[[nl:Zelfhulp]]
[[pt:Auto-ajuda]]
[[fr:Développement personnel]]