Does a lot of self-help just seem like nonsense?

I'm not talking about well-ground traditional self help (like David Burns New Mood Therapy or The Road Less Traveled), I'm thinking about these systems or programs that claim to wipe out your anxiety or "cure" you, aka, Tony Robbins or Charles Linden. What have you tried and how well did it work?

Best wishes,

Jason

I generally avoid all of the self-help crap online and other places. None of it will work and I have to find things out myself that work for me. That helps me more, knowing that it's something I discovered myself also helps with my self-esteem, while I'm at it. Two birds, one stone.

Never tried them and I'm not interested because I don't believe you can cure your anxiety that faster. Some of them seem a bit superficial.
On youtube I find one youtuber I follow and like (Ryan Cropper) that talked about remedies for anxiety (social anxiety in particular), it was helpful but my anxiety is still here, there aren't magical and fast solutions to cure your anxiety. I have to apply those remedies to my life everyday, there are remedies that don't work and remedies that does.

The only "self help" thing I ever read was "THE POWER OF NOW" and it wasn't really helpful. I mean people rave about it, and rave about all these self-help things. I mean the first few chapters I was REALLY into it, but it just didn't help and I lost interest.

I think you have to WANT to help YOURSELF. You are the only one who can do it. So no matter how many things you try if you're not into it, or are expecting an immediate result it just won't happen.

Good luck to you and remember be kind to yourself!

Yes! I happen to love "the power of now" and i was one of the only things that ever made me seriously change my view of the world for the better. But, there is so much junk out there. I even think that applies to any psychological treatment. i won't go because I don't think they know what they are doing and just want to shut you up with drugs.

I once got a book called "quantum" something and it had a tag line about using quantum physics to help yourself. It was intriguing but that was all it was.

Book that I did think were helpful.
- Full Catastrophe Living by John Kabat Zinn.
- The mind and the brain, I think my Beagley.

The mind and the brain is almost like a science book. But its thesis is that your mind and your brain are not the same thing and that you can direct your brain with your "mind". And the book has mucho scientific studies to back that up.

I typically avoid alleged "self-help" stuff simply because I would have already "self-helped" myself long ago if I could have ever done so. However, I do understand not everyone is as literal-minded as I am and that reading something about where or how help might be found is sometimes loosely labeled as "self-help".

As an overall illustration, I like to refer to the idea of "Pull yourself up by your bootstraps." First there was a time when I had no boots, then I found myself wearing strapless boots, then when I later got some boots with straps I ended up just pulling my own nose back into the mud.

The knowledge and power I needed to come up out of the pit ultimately came from outside the pit, and only after I had finally "dropped the shovel" that had only been making the pit deeper.

When my depression and anxiety is severe, so severe I can barely function, the only self-help technique that works is remembering to breath evenly and fully. Besides that, sometimes medication can break the awful cycle enough so I can function a bit. No matter how much I try, and work at it, there is no self help (except breathing) that truly relieves the pain.

that made me laugh. I feel like I do a face plant in the mud on a regular basis.

I've heard Eckhart Tolle (sp???) on audiobook but never read his stuff. The power of now I heard is amazing. How did it change things for you?

It so hard that when things seem the worst that's when we need to do them the most but they are the most difficult to do. As for breathing, I don't know if you've heard of Michael Sealey but he has a youtube channel with some pretty awesome meditation stuff. It's kind of new agey but I like his voiceovers.

Good advice. Good luck in your journey.

Best wishes,

Jason

Yes, the Power of Now audio...just helps you to be in the "present" which stops your brain from ruminating but for me only when I am listening to it...but when extra stressed a ride in the car with Ekhart Tolle...makes me feel better.

Yeah, the meditation audios made by Michael Sealy are the only one that work for me! They really work...I listen to them every night before sleeping. I love Sealy's voice, he's so calm and I feel instantly relaxed, calm, sometimes it's seems like I'm floating. The audios helped me a lot with anxiety. Also, sometimes I overthink a lot before going to bed, and I can become very negative, so those audios work everytime, they quiet my mind

It was the first book that said and best explained to me that my mind was not me. That me and my thoughts could be separated. And he goes further and says that your mind is actively trying to mess you up. He calls it the "ego" and he says that ego is at the heart of every bad thing that humans are associated with. The more you are "associated" with your mind / your ego / the more that controls you the worse off you are. The more you learn to disassociate YOU from your thoughts.. the better off you will be.

Kind of makes me look at the "ego" like a monster that I want to deny the satisfaction of controlling me.

He makes me want to have a British accent or is he Irish? Whatever it is I'm going to develop one so just hearing myself talk will make me calmer.

I found "CBT for Dummies" to be a life changer. While yes it's based somewhat on Burns, it includes a wealth of additional material. It is also presented in what I found to be a far easier and realistic manner that the traditional Burns model of CBT.