4 things pop psychology gets wrong

[HereSince1628]

From the pages of pop psychology itself...
each of these opinions is from a person selling a book...

but before we accept common knowledge as advice maybe it's worth contemplating...

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http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/in-practice/201303/4-things-pop-psychology-gets-wrong
<snip>

Visualizing Having Achieved Your Goals.
"Many self-help books advise people that to achieve their goals they should vividly imagine that they already have what they want to achieve. Actually, research has found that imagining you already have achieved a goal weakens your motivation to work towards it because when you feel like you already have something it's natural to feel like nothing more needs to be done.
<snip>

Personal Empowerment.

"Magazines and talk shows love to discuss ways in which we can feel personally empowered. But true personal empowerment is not about having a feeling, it's about having a real impact on our environment and the people in it. Studies show that acquiring real personal empowerment involves a process of taking actions that demonstrate real world results.

<snip>

Change Happens When You're Ready
We often hear "Change will happen when you're ready". In my more than 20 years of experience, I've come to understand that "ready"--or the tipping point of change--often means 'when the consequences of our behavior outweigh the value of that behavior to us'.

<snip>

Positive Thinking
"Positive thinking can be helpful, but when not balanced by a realistic assessment of a person's situation, it can also be harmful. I've seen the harm it's done to people who live with chronic pain or illness. When they're repeatedly told that if they'd just think positively, they'd get better, they then blame themselves when that fails to happen.

<snip/more>

[cbayer]

1. IMHO, pop psychology creates more problems than it ever solves.

Self-help books are written by people who found the path that worked for them and devoured by people desperate for a solution.

[HereSince1628]

2. People watch Dr. Phil, or Oprah, or Good Morning America and pick this stuff up

then it becomes 'common knowledge' fed to teens in those serious chats with parents.

As a nation and a caring society, we all need to get honest educations about these things.

[cbayer]

3. When Dr. Phil first started, I really liked him.

He would bring on people with specific illnesses and use it as an opportunity to educate others about the illness, it's causes, treatments, etc. He did it in a very empathic and educational manner. I remember a particularly good show about OCD.

Now he is just a sensationalist, selling product and scare tactics. He completely lost his way, imo.

[HereSince1628]

4. I see him as an invalidating bully. His celebrity has brought out his authoritarianism

I suppose some of that could work for a particular patient, but I think he's really trying to appeal to a conservative audience who have a desire to punish the patients for behaving badly.

Carping about the mean, hurtful, inconsiderate dx in your life is pretty common in onlinr p2p support groups is common, and I think that reflects social opinion/audience sentiment of those folks attending Dr. Phil's show.

[olddots]

5. The Pop Psychology 80s lead right into the maufactered depression 90s

Everything is a quick convenient fix in a world that is all about convenience .