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I think that the self-help industry is basically the same as the diet industry. These two industries for the most part offer superficial solutions to a far more complex problem. Gaining weight is not only eating too much and moving too little, but it's the result of a dozen habits which you perform every day over a long-period of time. A diet program drastically alters your daily routine, which quickly helps you to lose those extra kilos, but once you stop your old habits will resurface which caused your extra kilos in the first place. You will gain weight and blame yourself, but the given tools were not right for you from the start. Losing weight becomes even more difficult if overeating is a coping mechanism for stress or a poor self-image. It could even be that you're not even aware of this coping mechanism. The same goes for the self-help industry, but now it's about tools on how to live the life you've always wanted to live. I think that both industries is about selling superficial solutions, making exaggerated claims about their products, and give tools which misapplied could do more harm than good. The difficulty of evaluating what would work for you is very hard and rarely provided. The above example becomes even more difficult when you consider its questions. Do you understand your problem? Are you trying to solve the symptoms instead of the underlying problem? Is the tool effective? How do you determine its effectiveness? If it's proven to be effective, is it right for you as a person and for your situation? How do you integrate this tool in your daily life? What are the results? And so on. Many people can't or don't consider such questions and so keep trying the wrong tools for the wrong problem. Is self-help destructive? Depends on the impact of the problem in your daily life and the time to get a working solution. It's mostly harmless if it's about being more productive, but the wrong tool for dealing with anxiety is harmful to your well-being. The long search for the right tool for dealing with anxiety is even more harmful. In that case seeing a professional is the better choice. An outside perspective with years of experience will answer the above questions far better than a dozen self-help books ever will.
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Aug 25, 2014 18:37
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| # ¿ May 16, 2024 20:29 |
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