Handbook of Self-Help Therapies (original) (raw)

Self-Help Interventions Mapping the Role of Self-Administered Treatments in Health Care GEORGE A. CLUM Th e last 30 years have witnessed the publication of a torrent of books aimed at transforming the average American citizen into a successful business and fi nancial entrepreneur who is at once thin, muscular, fi t, free of illness and disease, and content with life. Th is transformation is to be achieved at the hands of none other than the average citizen herself, for the vehicle that will provide this metamorphosis is the self-help book or program in the hands of this same citizen. In the health arena, this change guru might be someone who has personally overcome disease or disorder or who has systematized an approach whose change formula will help suff erers overcome their defi ciencies. Th e number of books dedicated to this enterprise has expanded to the point where the New York Times provides a separate rating system of the most successful. Clearly, the self-help book has become a major factor in the domain of self-improvement. Th e assumption of the majority of these books is that the success stories detailed within will provide the motivational prod to stir the consumer to action and that, once so stirred, the technology advocated will be employed and the intended change produced. Th e extrapolated message is obvious: " I've been able to do it. Follow my formula and you will too!" or "I've shown that this formula has transformed others. Use it and transform yourself!" Almost without exception, the purveyors of change have failed to examine whether ER51712_C003.indd 41 ER51712_C003.