Self-help and self-promotion

Abstract

Weeks to Optimum Health, first published in 1997, encapsulates the style and language used in self-help and health advice literature on both sides of the Atlantic across the second half of the twentieth century. Analysis of this literature reveals cultural preoccupations with notions of balance and efforts to reframe the self under medical direction, as well as concerns about the detrimental effects of modern living on diet and health. More particularly, a key feature of the self-help genre, in relation to diet at least, was a commitment to providing readers with the knowledge and agency necessary to achieve ideal selfhood, health and well-being themselves through what the authors thought to be balanced diets or lifestyles. Drawing on self-help books that were in the Publishers' Digest top ten, The New York Times' bestsellers and books with multiple reprints, this chapter considers the self-help genre as one of the key sources and promoters of thinness, youthfulness, vitality, longevity and health as necessary pillars of twentieth-and twenty-first-century selfhood, but also of the concept of balance as a means of achieving health. More specifically, this chapter draws on the work of popular authors, such as

Self‐help/mutual aid groups for health and psychosocial problems: Key features and their perspectives in the 21st century

“…The distinctive characteristics of SH/MAGs relate to their self‐managed functioning and governance, the prominent role of peers, and the priority that members place on overcoming their problems. In this context, it is necessary to have research methodologies adapted to the function of SH/MAGs to follow their ‘rhythm’ and contribute to their well‐being (Lainas, 2013; Zafiridis & Lainas, 2012b).…”

“…Moreover, we reviewed a more elongated body of significant literature around SH/MAGs (Archibald, 2007; Borkman, 1999; Borkman et al, 2020; Brown & Wituk, 2010; Katz et al, 1992; Kurtz, 1997; Matzat, 2001, 2006; Munn‐Giddings & Borkman, 2018; Powel, 1994; Riessman & Carroll, 1995). A series of main themes around SH/MAGs emerged based on the review of the two bodies of literature (AJCP papers and the vast body of literature) combined with the author's 22 years of experience in the field (Lainas, 2013; Zafiridis & Lainas, 2012a). These themes relate to the course of the SH/MAGs movement and the understanding of its dynamics and form a unified framework for discussion about their future perspectives.…”

“…This scoping review proposes a comprehensive framework for understanding peer‐led suicide prevention interventions, attempts to address their effectiveness issues, and makes recommendations for practice and further research. In addition, this article highlights the evolution of self‐help/mutual aid practices in the 21st century through the development of psychosocial interventions that place peers at the center of action in roles of supporters and advisors in various fields (Borkman et al, 2020; Lainas, 2013).…”

“…PAR, which has been championed by community psychology, is an essential tool for studying and developing SH/MAGs. Finally, using SH/MAGs and methodologies based on peer dynamics is a promising prospect for increasing the effectiveness of psychosocial interventions (Lainas, 2013; Prilleltensky & Nelson, 2002). Community psychology should continue to monitor the development of self‐help/mutual aid practices, use them as basis to create psychosocial interventions, and broaden its research around self‐help/mutual aid.…”

“…Community psychology has for decades developed a particularly important institution for supporting SH/MAGs, the institution of Self‐Help Clearinghouses (Madara & White, 2002). The Clearinghouse paradigm has moved beyond the United States to countries in Europe (Lainas, 2013; Matzat, 2006). This is a support methodology that continues to make a significant contribution to group support (Madara, 1990; Meissen & Warren, 1993).…”