Hello! This is my first blog post for Psychology Today. I feel so honored to be included among such esteemed clinicians, researchers, writers and thinkers, particularly since I have no heavy-duty credentials to bring to bear on this task, nor any clinical or research experience under my belt. Then why am I writing here? Two reasons: I acquire psychology self-help books for a living and work with the authors to develop them, and I am the self-help audience: a professional, educated, intelligent adult woman with disposable income. I bought my first self-help book when I was 10, a slim book called How to Be Popular. So not only do I have a insider's knowledge of the self-help industry, I also know what works in self-help and what doesn't - or at least what works and what doesn't for me.
I decided to write this blog because I wanted to explore how the self-help work that I do affects my own mental health issues - particularly a tendency towards depression and anxiety, especially social anxiety - and my own path of self-awareness around these issues. Does self-help really work? For that matter, does therapy really work? I've had therapists on and off since I was a child. What worked and what didn't? What do I get out of my sessions? What sticks with me out of all the self-help books, blogs, and magazine and newspaper articles I read? What is it I'm looking for when I crack open a self-help book, click on the link to a psychology blog post, check out the ads for hypnotherapists in my local weekly, or stop to read a magazine article on how to be happier?
