Are self-help books helpful?
The answer is yes and no because every life is unique.
Self-help books are helpful.
If you’re the author and you’ve come out on the other side of your problems as a fully functioning member of your community? The self-help book you write will be able to help people who’ve experienced a similar life as you have. If enough people are helped by reading your self-help book, you could become very popular and wealthy. I can see how writing a self-help book could be very helpful.
Self-help books will also help people realise that the solution to their own particular problem is to be found inside of them. This is one of the most helpful traits all self-help books possess.
The most helpful self-help book will not tell people what to do. It will guide them in how to think because the solution to every problem is based on how you think about it.
Why self-help books are not helpful.
The old adage of “walk a mile in another person’s shoes before you offer to help them fix their problems” should be taken into consideration before telling someone how to fix their problems using a self-help book because very few people experience the same life. When you take into consideration that the majority of adult problems can be traced back to their early childhood, probably to a time that they don’t remember, you can see how difficult it can be to help them (not impossible, but difficult nonetheless). I’ll leave you with one final thought.
Every self-help book should come with the buyer beware warning. Just because it worked for the author doesn’t mean it will work for you.
