When Self-Help Books Don’t Actually Help

The other day, a friend of mine forwarded me this fascinating blog post about the efficacy of self-help books. In a nutshell, in 2008, a team of psychologists reviewed fifty popular self-help books, and found that many of them were worse than useless. Specifically, the psychologists found that many of the self-help books they reviewed contained these four fatal flaws.

As a ghostwriter and editor specializing in self-help and spirituality books, I wasn’t surprised by this list—indeed, this is the kind of advice I give my authors every day. Still, I will be sharing the study with every self-help author I know, if only to say, “Hey, don’t take my word for it—read the literature!”

The self-help books the psychologists panned had these factors in common:

They lacked grounding in psychological science.

In 2024, there is no excuse for not grounding your self-help book in science. High-quality psychology research is widely available, and there are even AI tools that will explain scientific papers to you in simple language. Although it may be tempting to base your self-help book entirely on your personal story, overgeneralizing from your own experience while overlooking scientific research is one of the biggest mistakes first-time self-help authors make.

They failed to set reasonable expectations.

A self-help book should guide readers towards achievable outcomes, not send them on a wild goose chase. Although it’s crucial to offer your readers a compelling promise, it’s crucial to avoid writing checks your readers won’t be able to cash.

They lacked specific guidance for implementing the self-help techniques and for monitoring treatment progress.

Readers should be able to measure their progress as they implement the advice in your book. Are they exercising more? Having fewer arguments with their teenaged kids? Achieving certain milestones in their meditation practice? Without these benchmarks, readers may feel that they are going in circles, never making the progress you promised them.

They contained potentially harmful advice.

As I tell every student in my self-help writing masterclass: becoming a self-help author comes with a tremendous ethical responsibility. The advice you give will impact a reader’s physical, emotional, and/or mental health, and possibly their relationships, finances, and career; it’s absolutely critical that you consider the unintended consequences of your advice, take every precaution to make it safe for most people, and consider readers who should not follow it.

Self-help books that are specific, realistic, safe, and grounded in science are far more likely to change readers’ lives—and writing one isn’t as hard as you think. Thanks again to Dr. Todd Kashdan for calling my attention to this study.

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