My 12 favourite psychology self-help books

Friday, October 16, 2009

The other end of the psychology section in bookshops is where the self-help and self-improvement books lie. A few of them are completely mad. Many of them rely entirely on opinion and conjecture. Many recycle simple psychological and other truisms into supposedly sage advice. Some invent arbitrary wisdom. Some offer useful psychological information in digestible form; if you read them you may help yourself and learn about psychology. Here are my twelve favourites:
1. Shah, I (1996). Caravan of Dreams. Paris: Arkana. The Sufi challenges posed by this and Shah’s other books have refreshed my thinking my entire career.
2. Young, JE & Kloso, J (1998). Reinventing your life: How to break free from negative life patterns. New York: Penguin Putnam. This book is designed to help people who have strong, dysfunctional schemas (life traps) from their early life: Personality disorders as they used, rather stigmatisingly, to be called. Many people have these traps to some extent.
3. Farber, A & Mazlish, E (2001). How to talk so kids will listen and listen so kids will talk. London: Picadilly Press. The advice in this book works. A superb example of experiential wisdom that would not pass ‘scientific evidence based practice’ criteria, but which is marvelous nonetheless.
4. Gilbert, P (1997). Overcoming depression. London: Constable and Robinson. Indeed the entire series of ‘Overcoming…’ books is excellent in providing the principles of cognitive behavioural therapy in usable and accessible form.
5. Covey, SR (2004). The seven habits of highly effective people. New York: Simon & Schuster. Most ‘Success in business books’ are mediocre, this one makes a virtue of identifying simple behaviours that are effective. Wisdom of the ‘obvious once you have seen it written down’ variety.
6. Baddeley, A. (2004). Your memory: A users’ guide. London: Carlton. This explains a lot about every aspect of memory in an accessible way.
7. Robson, P. (1999).  Forbidden drugs: Understanding drug and why people take them. Oxford: Oxford University Press. A brave, down-to-earth book about drugs that is realistic about their benefits and harms.
8. Heather, N. & Robertson, I. (1996). Let’s drink to your health. London: Wiley. This book helps people to look at and take charge of their own alcohol intake. Nothing dramatic, except ignoring some 50 years of wisdom that people who drink too much are incapable of controlling their drinking.
9. Storr, A. (1997). Solitude. London: Flamingo. A meditative essay on the importance of and need for solitude. In a subtle way a counter-blast to the common assumptions that people ‘should’ always conform, fit in, need and go along with the society of others and, more dangerously, that those who do not have something wrong with them.
10. Bentall, RP (2004). Madness explained: Psychosis and human nature. London: Penguin. If you think you are mad, have been diagnosed with a psychological disorder, or have a family member or friend in that boat, then this book is essential, if quite difficult, reading because it destroys conventional thinking about madness as illness and reconnects ‘mad people’ with the rest of humanity.
11. Sutherland, S. (2007). Irrationality. London: Pinter & Martin. If you fancy you are sane and rational, then this book demonstrates that chances are you are actually irrational, conceited, gullible and stupid, like most people.
12. Reid, M. & Hammersley R. (2000). Communicating successfully in groups: A practical introduction for the workplace. London: Routledge. If you have ever prayed for unconsciousness during a team or committee meeting, then this book will appeal as it will help you understand why group communication at work is so often ineffective.