Information AboutSelf-help |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT SELF-HELP | |
| personal development | |
| self-care | |
| self | |
|
The term self-help can refer to any case or practice whereby an individual or a group attempts self-guided improvement''APA Dictionary of Psychology'', 1st ed., Gary R. VandenBos, ed., Washington: American Psychological Association, 2007.—economically, intellectually or emotionally. The basis for self-help is often self-reliance, publicly available information, or , Business , Psychological or Psychotherapeutic nostrums, purveyed through the popular genre of "self-help" books 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. 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 The self-help philosophy relies more on first-hand knowledge (or folk knowledge) than empirical data. An expansion of the , with the ever-expanding selection of commercial and information services which it offers, exemplifies movement toward self-help on a grand scale. HISTORY The authors of , 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. Legal self-help preceded the emergence of self-help in other areas. For many people from the 18th century onwards, self-help became a way of saving costs in legal situations, with self-help publications available to help with routine legal matters from filing Wills to domestic processes to recording property deeds. that also appeared previously in Benjamin Franklin 's '' Poor Richard's Almanac '' (1733 - 1758). Alcoholics Anonymous was started by two alcoholics, Bill Wilson and Dr. 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. THE SELF-HELP MARKETPLACE Research firm Marketdata estimated the "self-improvement" market as worth $8.5 billion in 2003 — including Infomercial s, Mail-order Catalog s, Holistic institutes, books, Audio Cassette s, Motivational Speaker seminars, the Personal Coaching market, Weight-loss and Stress-management programs. Marketdata projected that the total market size would grow to over $11 billion by 2008. Within the context of this larger market, group and corporate attempts to aid the "seeker" have moved into the "self-help" marketplace, with LGAT s and Psychotherapy systems ready with more or less pre-packaged solutions to instruct people seeking their own individual betterment. There is also an exploding market of computer self help books such as the Dummies Guides and the Complete Idiots Guides. 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 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 " as a humorous antidote to the overblown self-help book category. Scholars also have targeted self-help claims as misleading and incorrect. In 2005 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. However, there are now a number of commercial companies (e.g., Ultrasis and Psychology For You Limited ) that offer psychology products that are based on sound and validated psychological principles, for example, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy programs to help people overcome anxiety, depression and stress-related symptoms. SEE ALSO
For articles on individual self-help books: FOOTNOTES |
|
|