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What You Can Change and What You Can't: The Complete Guide to Successful Self-Improvement Learning to Accept Who You Are (Fawcett Book)
True or false?
* Dieting down to your "ideal" weight will prolong your life.
* Reliving childhood trauma can undo adult personality problems.
* Alcoholics have addictive personalities.
* Psychoanalysis helps cure anxiety.
If you think any of these statements are true, get rready for a shock. In the climate of self-improvement that has reigned for the last twenty years, misinfor...more
* Dieting down to your "ideal" weight will prolong your life.
* Reliving childhood trauma can undo adult personality problems.
* Alcoholics have addictive personalities.
* Psychoanalysis helps cure anxiety.
If you think any of these statements are true, get rready for a shock. In the climate of self-improvement that has reigned for the last twenty years, misinfor...more
Paperback, 336 pages
Published
January 24th 1995
by Ballantine Books
(first published December 14th 1993)
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Another Martin Seligman psychology book that just snuck into my pile and got itself read. Dr. Seligman fairly dispassionately gives us the good news and the bad news about what psychological traits, functional and dysfunctional, are amenable to change or are immutable for the vast majority of people, depending on how deeply these characteristics are embedded in the psyche.
Phobias are moderately changeable with treatments that were available when the book was written in 1996. Sexual...more
Phobias are moderately changeable with treatments that were available when the book was written in 1996. Sexual...more
I have just read this book for the second time. I read it as a work assignment with the intention of exploring the ideas contained in the book in an educational small group setting.
It is very well researched and referenced.
Martin Seligman challenges a lot of the perceived wisdom on depression/anxiety, addiction, obesity.
His views are thought-provoking and informative.
He emphasises how important it is to be aware of our belief system around these conditions. Our beliefs ...more
It is very well researched and referenced.
Martin Seligman challenges a lot of the perceived wisdom on depression/anxiety, addiction, obesity.
His views are thought-provoking and informative.
He emphasises how important it is to be aware of our belief system around these conditions. Our beliefs ...more
This was a hot self improvement-pop psychological mess. It is a shame because I agree wholeheartedly that any therapy should be forward thinking and allows a person to assume personal responsibility, but having distinctions in degrees of emotional difficulty in child abuse cases--mild fondling by strangers to forceful rapes by close relatives--is downright crazy, and expecting people to "turn down the volume" on such matters is fucking problematic. All this from a guy who wrote Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life...more
I'd actually rate this more like 3.5 to 4 stars. I greatly enjoyed the whole book with the exception of a couple of chapters, but the last part on childhood put me off badly enough with it's blatant bias and cherry-picking of studies that I had to downgrade my overall rating of the book. It's too bad, because I really loved the book and was enthusiastic about it and wanting to recommend it to my friends until then.
Seligman is usually upfront with you when he's arguing his own perspec...more
Seligman is usually upfront with you when he's arguing his own perspec...more
This book is a great view into the mental reasons of why we have a difficult time changing our habits. It starts with understanding the troubles of our psychological world (i.e. anxiety, phobias, depression, etc.), then discusses a number of key areas people struggle (i.e. diet, alcoholism) and finally draws a conclusion of expectations we can assume during our seasons of expansion and contraction. The studies are a little shocking in their findings, but Dr. Seligman does a wonderful job of pres...more
Ignore the self-improvement bit for a moment, as I'm pretty sure that was added to help sell the book. This is a fascinating breakdown of what's caused by nature and what we can attribute to nurture in a series of common ailments--from alcoholism to depression to sexuality. The breakdowns are clear, smart, and fascinating, especially if you're a pop psychology junkie like myself. The useful part is giving you a sense of what aspects of yourself are worth working on and which you can just give up...more
Reading this book at a young age gives me a very different perspective on that last section of this book. It is more targeted to those in their mid-life who most likely having a crisis. The conclusion of this book is pure brilliance, bring back everything to its very first page. I can feel confident that I know the 'wisdom to know the difference' when going through life.
This is mislabeled as a "guide to self-improvement." it's pretty broad but has some good observations that seem to be backed up by Seligman's career experiences about what's changeable/not.
The sections on depression, anxiety, phobias, and anger are excellent and insightful. In much of the rest of the book, however, the author seems to overstep his bounds, spending exhaustive amounts of time presenting personal postulates on subject areas outside his expertise. The most frustrating examples of this are the sections on biological factors in dieting, transsexualism, and homosexuality.
Rational analysis of methods of self improvement. With charts!
Much plain as day wisdom here with scientific back up.
An interesting look at genes
A great tool for therapists. Makes the case for using efficacious therapeutic methods.
I have read that the author's thesis about learned helplessness, unfortunately, was co-opted by military psychologists, without his permission or knowledge, to reverse engineer torture in the 21st century by the U.S. government.
I have read that the author's thesis about learned helplessness, unfortunately, was co-opted by military psychologists, without his permission or knowledge, to reverse engineer torture in the 21st century by the U.S. government.
With all of the self-improvement and pop psychology books available, I found this a refreshing look at what emotional and behavioral factors we can change and which ones we just can't.
Another Seligman - looks like an interesting companion to the other book of his I just stuck on my t0-reads.
That it's better to go to the research data than it is to listen to public opinion.
a gift from my favorite uncle. I'm really looking forward to this book.
For a class, interesting- genetics of behavior, a review.
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Seligman is the Zellerbach Family Professor of Psychology in the University of Pennsylvania's Department of Psychology. He was previously the Director of the Clinical Training Program in the department. Seligman was elected President of the American Psychological Association by the widest margin in its history and served in that capacity during the 1998 term.[4] He is the founding editor-in-chief ...more
More about Martin E.P. Seligman...
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