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The efficacy of self help

prplchknz

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 11, 2007
Messages
34,397
MBTI Type
yupp
depends on how good you are at not projecting. and actually looking at yourself objectively.
 

gromit

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Mar 3, 2010
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6,508
I don't know that you can really make a lasting change aside from something motivated from deep within yourself.

I have seen people hide behind self help books though. They seem to be a better tool once the change is already in progress and you want to progress even further and maybe want a little more expert opinion.
 

skylights

i love
Joined
Jul 6, 2010
Messages
7,756
MBTI Type
INFP
Enneagram
6w7
Instinctual Variant
so/sx
I think self-help materials are mostly pleasing entertainment for the type of people for whom introspection and/or self-improvement is a hobby. I'm one of those people, so don't get me wrong. I don't disparage self-help. I just don't think it's a panacea, either.

IMO, it can be helpful, but I agree with gromit that there has to be lasting change that comes from inside for any of it to really take hold.
 

Z Buck McFate

Pepperidge Farm remembers.
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Aug 25, 2009
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Something that’s really come to my attention in the past few years is the extent to which change doesn’t come through having realizations about what needs to change, that it’s about actually incorporating that change into my routine (as Gromit and skylights already hit on). That’s not an easy thing to do. I think it’s human nature to go into it believing that simply having the realization about what needs to change- having that ‘A-ha!’ moment of realization, with an instant vision of all the things that will improve as a result- is going to be an effective catalyst in itself to make a difference. We pat ourselves on the back for realizing it, like "job well done!," and quickly move on. But that’s kind of like reading a book on building physical muscle and thinking that learning about how to build that muscle is the same thing as actually building the muscle.

Granted, reading the book (or watching the video, whatever means through which the self help is transmitted) is more like an initial work-out in this analogy- since the ‘muscle’ being built is cognitive- but my point is that it takes more than working out one single time to actually make a difference. Change in our behavior and/or thought patterns won’t come from single realizations, there has to also be discipline to intentionally focus on the specific realizations over and over (and over) again in order for that change to slowly be incorporated.
 

Pionart

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Sep 17, 2014
Messages
4,039
MBTI Type
NiFe
I recently read a self-help book, and it brought up a concept which I had seen in a similar form in one of Jung's work, namely that of Directed Thinking. Now, I very often, generally whenever I start getting into a negative thinking mindset, "switch" myself into Directed Thinking mode. My head instantly lifts up and either I become more involved in the activity I am doing, or I start thinking intentionally and pick and choose what I want to think about and how I want the thought to be structured. I believe that if I keep doing this that I will keep getting better at it, to the point that it is automatic to use it.
 
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