Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
Self-help books can hurt, new Canadian study says
OTTAWA -- So maybe you've been reading all the self-esteem books, chanting the magic phases meant to bolster your self-image -- and you still feel lousy.
You're not alone. So-called self-help books may only help the people who need them least, such as those with high self-esteem, and can be destructive for those who really need help, according to a new study by Canadian experts published Thursday in Psychological Science.
Standing in front of the mirror chanting phrases meant to "empower" yourself -- like the one famously satirized in a Saturday Night Live spoof featuring fictional guru Stuart Smalley: "I'm good enough; I'm strong enough; and, gosh darn it, people like me!" -- can have a negative effect on those with low self-esteem, ironically the very people who tend to buy the self-help books in the first place, experts say.
In their study, psychologists Joanne Wood and John Lee from the University of Waterloo in Ontario, and Elaine Perunovic from the University of New Brunswick, found that individuals with low self-esteem actually felt worse about themselves after repeating positive self-statements such as "I am a lovable person" or "I will succeed," typically found in many self-help books.
During the study, researchers asked a total of 68 participants to repeat the self-help book phrase, "I am a lovable person."
The individuals with low self-esteem reported feeling worse after repeating the positive self-statement than did another low self-esteem group who did not repeat the self-statement, the study found. The participants with high self-esteem felt better after repeating the positive self-statement -- but only slightly.
They found that, paradoxically, low-self-esteem participants' moods fared better when they were allowed to have negative thoughts than when they were asked to focus exclusively on affirmative thoughts.
"One possibility is that, like overly positive praise, unreasonably positive self-statements... can elicit contradictory thoughts," the authors wrote.
-- Canwest News Service
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition July 3, 2009 A19
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