There certainly is no shortage of self-help books. Bad effect: Self-help books give wrong and sometimes harmful advice, they give false hope, they make uncertain people just feel worse about themselves, or they make people refrain from seeking professional support.5 Jul 2019
Are self-help books actually helpful?
Conclusion. There is some evidence that reading problem-focused self-help books tends to be helpful for people with specific problems. As yet there is no hard evidence for the effectiveness of reading growth-oriented books.28 Feb 2007