Sham
Subtitle: how the gurus of the self-help movement make us helpless
By: Steve Salerno
Publisher: Nicholas Brealey
Published: 2005
Place of publication: London
Language: eng
ISBN-13: 9781857883800
Subjects: Recovery movement; Psychological literature; Self-help techniques
Description: Salerno goes deep inside the self help and Actualization Movement (fittingly, the words form the acronym SHAM) to offer the first serious expose of this multibillion-dollar industry and the real damage it is doing - not just to its paying customers but to all of society. Based on the author's investigative reporting - and the inside look at the industry he got while working at a leading "lifestyle" publisher - SHAM shows how thinly credentialed "experts" now dispense worthless or even counterproductive advice on everything from mental health to relationships to diet to personal finance to business strategy. Americans alone spend upwards of $8 billion every year on self-help programmes and products. And those staggering financial costs are actually the least of our worries.
Table of contents: title: Introduction: Hopelessly hooked on help; title: Part One: The culprits; title: How we got here; title: wherever here is; title: False prophets, false profits; title: Dr. Phil McGraw: absolute power; title: Tony Robbins: leaps (and bounds) of faith; title: "Ya gotta want it!"; title: Put me in, coach, I'm ready to pay; title: Killer performances: the rise of the contrapreneur; title: Part Two: The consequences; title: You are all diseased; title: Looking for love ... on all the wrong bases?; title: I'm OK, you're ... How do you spell OK again?; title: Patient, heal thyself; title: Conclusion: A SHAM society.