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82-484: When engaged in self-help, people often use publicly available information, or support groups —on the Internet as well as in person—in which people in similar situations work together. From early examples in pro se legal practice and home-spun advice, the connotations of the word have spread and often apply particularly to education , business , exercise , psychology , and psychotherapy , as commonly distributed through

164-575: A Rolls-Royce and a 600- acre (240- hectare ) property in the Catskill Mountains , with the aid of some lenders. The beginning of the Great Depression , however, affected Hill's finances adversely, forcing his Catskills property into foreclosure before the end of 1929. He went broke, forcing his wife's family to pay for the expenses of Florence and her children. Hill's next published work, The Magic Ladder to Success (1930), proved to be

246-483: A 2.48-billion dollars-a-year industry" in the United States alone. By 2006, research firm Marketdata estimated the "self-improvement" market in the U.S. as worth more than US$ 9 billion—including infomercials , mail-order catalogs , holistic institutes, books, audio cassettes , motivation-speaker seminars, the personal coaching market, and weight-loss and stress-management programs. Market data projected that

328-468: A Chicago storage fire. Intra-Wall Correspondence School primarily sold Hill's Golden Rule and correspondence courses. In 1923 it was exposed by local newspapers as a scam. Following the murder of Donald Mellett , he promoted a lecture tour based on their acquaintance, with Hill claiming to have been the target of the same assassins. Hill lost control over Hill's Golden Rule to a group of disgruntled employees. Hill attempted to get revenge against one of

410-447: A commercial failure. During the next few years, Hill traveled through the country, returning to his habits from the prior decade of initiating various short-lived business ventures. He was involved in the production of the first Mormon film Corianton: A Story of Unholy Love , which collapsed after investors accused Hill of malfeasance. Hill claimed to have been an advisor to Franklin D. Roosevelt during this time. He claimed to have coined

492-435: A commission. In practice, the focus was on signing up more students, not in learning how to sell cars. In this form, it resembled a modern multi-level marketing company. During June 1910, Hill married Florence Elizabeth Horner, with whom he had three sons: James, born in 1911; Napoleon Blair, born in 1912; and David, born in 1918. Hill would postpone their honeymoon until 1919. Horner was in high school when they met and

574-428: A common problem, give mutual support and provide information, two often inseparable features. They are, according to Henry Potts of University College London, "an overlooked resource for patients." Many studies have looked at the content of messages , while what matters is the effect that participation in the group has on the individual. Potts complains that research on these groups has lagged behind, particularly on

656-536: A common trend to why people find online support groups appealing. First, the social distance between members online reduced embarrassment and they appreciated the greater range of expertise offered in the larger online social network. Next, they found that anonymity increased one's confidence in providing support to others and decreased embarrassment. The users of the social support websites were more comfortable being able to reread and edit their comments and discussion forum entries before sending them, and they have access to

738-406: A factor of just 1.6, while social isolation does so by a factor of 2.0... suggest[ing] an added value to self-help groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous as surrogate communities." Some psychologists advocate for positive psychology , and explicitly embrace an empirical self-help philosophy. "[T]he role of positive psychology is to become a bridge between the ivory tower and the main street—between

820-427: A formula for rags-to-riches success, was published initially in the 1928 multi-volume study course entitled The Law of Success , a rewrite of a 1925 manuscript. Hill identified freedom , democracy , capitalism , and harmony as being among the foundations to his "Philosophy of Achievement". He asserted that without these foundations, great personal achievements would not be possible. Hill claimed his philosophy

902-839: A great brain?... The design industry is something done to us. I'm proposing we each become designers. But I suppose 'I love the way she thinks' could take on new meaning." Both self-talk—the propensity to engage in verbal or mental self-directed conversation and thought—and social support can be used as instruments of self-improvement, often via empowering action-promoting messages. Psychologists designed experiments to shed light on how self-talk can result in self-improvement. Research has shown that people prefer second-person pronouns over first-person pronouns when engaging in self-talk to achieve goals, regulate their behavior, thoughts, or emotions, and facilitate performance. Self-talk also plays an important role in regulating emotions under social stress . People who use non-first-person language tend to exhibit

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984-526: A higher level of visual distance during the process of introspection, indicating that using non-first-person pronouns and one's own name may result in enhanced self-distancing. This form of self-help can enhance people's ability to regulate their thoughts, feelings, and behavior under social stress, which would lead them to appraise social-anxiety-provoking events in more challenging and less threatening terms. Scholars have targeted many self-help claims as misleading and incorrect. In 2005, Steve Salerno portrayed

1066-414: A job working for the lawyer Rufus A. Ayers , a coal magnate and former Virginia attorney general . Author Richard Lingeman wrote that Hill received this job after arranging to keep confidential the death of a black bellhop whom the previous manager of the mine had accidentally shot while drunk. Hill left his coal mine management job soon afterward and enrolled in law school before withdrawing owing to

1148-497: A lack of funds. Later in life, Hill would use the title of "Attorney of Law", although Hill's official biography notes that "there is no record of his having actually performed legal services for anyone." In 1903, Hill married for the second time to Edith Whitman; in 1905 their child Edith Whitman Hill was born. Their marriage was a fraught one due to Hill's alleged abuse of his wife and daughter in addition to his infidelity. Hill relocated to Mobile, Alabama , in 1907 and co-founded

1230-807: A letter of introduction to Ford, who Hill said then introduced him to Alexander Graham Bell , Elmer R. Gates , Thomas Edison, and Luther Burbank . Endorsements for The Law of Success were allegedly sent in by William H. Taft , Cyrus H. K. Curtis , Thomas Edison, Luther Burbank, E. M. Statler , Edward W. Bok , and John D. Rockefeller . The list in the acknowledgments includes, among those Hill wrote that he had personally interviewed, Rufus A. Ayers , John Burroughs , Harvey Samuel Firestone , Elbert H. Gary , James J. Hill , George Safford Parker , Theodore Roosevelt , Charles M. Schwab , Frank A. Vanderlip , John Wanamaker , F. W. Woolworth , Daniel Thew Wright , and William Wrigley Jr. Aside from these, Hill's other claims have been called into question. There

1312-650: A modern phenomenon, but they supplement traditional fraternal organizations such as Freemasonry in some respects, and may build on certain supportive functions (formerly) carried out in (extended) families . Other types of groups formed to support causes, including causes outside of themselves, are more often called advocacy groups , interest groups , lobby groups , pressure groups or promotional groups . Trade unions and many environmental groups, for example, are interest groups. The term support group in this article refers to peer-to-peer support. Support groups maintain interpersonal contact among their members in

1394-420: A principle he refers to as "autosuggestion". Hill does admit the talks were only real to him because of his imagination but professes his belief that the "dominating thoughts and desires" of one's mind make those thoughts real. Napoleon Hill died aged 87 on November 8, 1970. His estimated net worth at the time of his death was about $ 1 million. Hill's works were inspired by the philosophy of New Thought and

1476-456: A profession and a science". Its practitioners thus function as "part of the personal service industry rather than as mental health professionals." While "there is no proof that twelve-step programs 'are superior to any other intervention in reducing alcohol dependence or alcohol-related problems'," at the same time it is clear that "there is something about 'groupishness' itself which is curative." Thus for example "smoking increases mortality risk by

1558-406: A secular cognate of Biblical wisdom literature. Proverbs from many periods, collected and uncollected, embody traditional moral and practical advice of diverse cultures. The hyphenated compound word "self-help" often appeared in the 1800s in a legal context, referring to the doctrine that a party in a dispute has the right to use lawful means on their initiative to remedy a wrong. Some consider

1640-410: A self-esteem tape (even though half the labels were wrong), they felt that their self-esteem had gone up. No wonder people keep buying subliminal tapes: even though the tapes don't work, people think they do." Much of the self-help industry may be thought of as part of the "skin trades. People need haircuts, massage, dentistry, wigs and glasses, sociology and surgery, love and advice."—a skin trade, "not

1722-554: A self-help book is to write one". Gerald Rosen raised concerns that psychologists were promoting untested self-help books with exaggerated claims rather than conducting studies that could advance the effectiveness of these programs to help the public. Rosen noted the potential benefits of self-help but cautioned that good intentions were not sufficient to assure the efficacy and safety of self-administered instructional programs. Rosen and colleagues observed that many psychologists promote untested self-help programs rather than contributing to

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1804-615: A show on KFWB Radio in Los Angeles. In 1952 he launched a new scam selling courses about success in Missouri. The scam soon collapsed, and he set up a firm called Napoleon Hill Associates to sell courses with W. Clement Stone . In the 1960s Hill and Stone fell out. Hill turned to selling his course Science of Success through franchises. In 1963 he founded the Napoleon Hill Foundation. Hill's "Philosophy of Achievement", offered as

1886-449: A study conducted by Baym (2010) finds that anonymity is beneficial to those who are lonely or anxious. This does not pertain to some people seeking support groups, because not all are lonely and/or anxious, but for those who are, online support groups are a great outlet where one can feel comfortable honestly expressing themselves because the other users do not know who they are. A study was conducted by Walther and Boyd (2000) and they found

1968-544: A variety of ways. Traditionally, groups meet in person in sizes that allow conversational interaction. Support groups also maintain contact through printed newsletters, telephone chains, internet forums, and mailing lists. Some support groups are exclusively online (see below). Membership in some support groups is formally controlled, with admission requirements and membership fees. Other groups are "open" and allow anyone to attend an advertised meeting, for example, or to participate in an online forum. A self-help support group

2050-400: A way that she would be immortal. In 1941 the child was returned to her biological mother. After being arrested and convicted in 1942, Schafer claimed that Napoleon had been to blame. The couple divorced around 1940. With much of the wealth from the book going to Rosa, Napoleon returned to his pursuit of success. Rosa proceeded to marry her divorce lawyer. Hill and Rosa never repaid Blair for

2132-470: Is a controversial figure. Accused of fraud, modern historians also doubt many of his claims, such as that he met Andrew Carnegie and that he was an attorney. Hill was born in a one-room cabin near the Appalachian town of Pound in southwest Virginia . His parents were James Monroe Hill and Sarah Sylvania (Blair), and he was the grandson of James Madison Hill and Elizabeth (Jones). His grandfather came to

2214-436: Is an accepted version of this page Oliver Napoleon Hill (October 26, 1883 – November 8, 1970) was an American self-help author. He is best known for his book Think and Grow Rich (1937), which is among the best-selling self-help books of all time. Hill's works insisted that fervid expectations are essential to improving one's life. Most of his books are promoted as expounding principles to achieve "success". Hill

2296-503: Is fully organized and managed by its members, who are commonly volunteers and have personal experience in the subject of the group's focus. These groups may also be referred to as fellowships , peer support groups , lay organizations , mutual help groups , or mutual aid self-help groups . Most common are 12-step groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous and self-help groups for mental health . Professionally operated support groups are facilitated by professionals who most often do not share

2378-420: Is literally what he thinks, his character being the complete sum of all his thoughts." Noble thoughts, the book maintains, make for a noble person, while lowly thoughts make for a miserable person. Napoleon Hill 's Think and Grow Rich (1937) described the use of repeated positive thoughts to attract happiness and wealth by tapping into an " Infinite Intelligence". In 1936, Dale Carnegie further developed

2460-566: Is little evidence that he aided President Wilson to negotiate Germany's surrender in World War I ; that he helped President Roosevelt write his fireside chats ; or that he was an attorney. There are no known records of Hill's meetings with the famous men he claimed to have interviewed besides for a brief photo op with Edison. Hill openly described visits from spirits in chapter 12 of his book Grow Rich! With Peace of Mind (1967). He described them as unseen friends, unseen watchers, strange beings, and

2542-477: Is not difficult to find an online support group, but it is hard to find a good one. In the article What to Look for in Quality Online Support Groups , John M. Grohol gives tips for evaluating online groups and states: "In good online support groups, members stick around long after they've received the support they were seeking. They stay because they want to give others what they themselves found in

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2624-541: Is sometime in 1908 that Hill claims his pivotal conversation with Andrew Carnegie happened; however, the existence of such a meeting is a point of contention amongst Hill biographers. Following the exposure of his fraud in Alabama, Hill fled to Washington, DC, where he dropped Oliver as his first name and began going by Napoleon Hill. In 1909 he founded the Automobile College of Washington. The college assembled cars for

2706-399: Is sometimes charged. In the case of a disease , an identity or a pre-disposition, for example, a support group will provide information, act as a clearing-house for experiences, and may serve as a public relations voice for affected people, other members, and their families. Groups for high IQ or LGBTQIA+ individuals, for example, differ in their inclusivity, but both connect people on

2788-609: The First World War ; Hill claimed that Wilson offered him large sums for his aid but that he did not accept any payment for his work because he was a patriot. He claimed that he was so important and involved in the war effort that he had the power to veto the President. Hill claimed to have participated intimately in the negotiation of the armistice with Germany. These claims are not believed to be true. White House records include no reference to his ever being there. In 1922, he opened

2870-512: The Great School of Masters that had been guarding him, and who maintain a "school of wisdom". Hill states that the "Master" spoke to him audibly, revealing secret knowledge. Hill further insists that the Masters "can disembody themselves and travel instantly to any place they choose to acquire essential knowledge or to give knowledge directly, by voice, to anyone else." Grow Rich! With Peace of Mind

2952-631: The Illinois Central Railroad with a lawsuit due to low lighting in their cars allegedly making him need glasses. The George Washington Institute was unaccredited and closed in 1918 following allegations of fraud made by students. During this time, Florence and their children were living with her family in West Virginia. Following the closure of the George Washington Institute, Hill embarked on other business ventures, among them

3034-464: The "secret" that Andrew Carnegie "carelessly tossed it into my mind" and that it inspired Manuel L. Quezon of the Philippine Islands to "gain freedom for his people". Although he mentions a "burning desire for money" repeatedly throughout the book, he suggests that avarice is not his "secret" at all. Hill returned to the topic of a secret in a 1967 book, where he explicitly stated: Anything

3116-419: The $ 300 loan; indeed, Rosa taunted Blair about it. Rosa would later write a self help book entitled "How to Attract Men and Money." In 1941 Hill published Mental Dynamite , but it was a commercial failure. Hill met Annie Lou Norman, who was 47 years old, where he rented a room from her. They married in 1943 and relocated to California. Hill went on the lecture circuit once again. In 1947 he briefly hosted

3198-587: The Acree-Hill Lumber Company. In October 1908, the Pensacola Journal reported that the company was facing bankruptcy proceedings and charges of mail fraud for purchasing lumber from outside Mobile, from other counties in Alabama and Florida, and selling it below cost, thereby failing to generate a return. His wife Edith filed for divorce in 1908; at the proceedings Hill's friends and business partners testified to his affairs with prostitutes. It

3280-515: The American self-help movement—he uses the acronym SHAM: the Self-Help and Actualization Movement —not only as ineffective in achieving its goals but also as socially harmful. "Salerno says that 80 percent of self-help and motivational customers are repeat customers and they keep coming back whether the program worked for them or not." Another critic pointed out that with self-help books "supply increases

3362-619: The Carter Motor Corporation, which declared bankruptcy in early 1912; students were not paid for their labor. During April 1912, the automobile magazine Motor World accused Hill's college of being a scam and derided its marketing materials as "a joke to anyone of average intelligence". Following the bankruptcy of the Carter Motor Corporation, Hill pivoted the organization to teaching people how to sell cars rather than make them. Students were incentivized to themselves sell Automobile College of Washington courses on which they would earn

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3444-516: The George Washington Institute of Advertising, where he intended to teach principles of success and self-confidence . On June 4, 1918, the Chicago Tribune reported that the state of Illinois had issued two warrants for his arrest, charging him with violating blue sky laws by fraudulently attempting to sell shares of his school at a $ 100,000 capitalization, despite the school's possessing assets appraised only at $ 1,200. In 1917, Hill threatened

3526-562: The Intra-Wall Correspondence School, a charitable foundation intended to provide educational materials to prisoners in Ohio. The foundation was directed by, among others, check forger and former convict Butler Storke, who would be sent back to prison only a year later. According to Hill's official biography, it was during this period that hundreds of documents proving Hill's association with various famous figures were destroyed in

3608-502: The President's famous phrase "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." In 1937, Hill published the bestselling book Think and Grow Rich , which became Hill's best-known work. Hill's new wife Rosa Lee Beeland contributed substantially to the authoring and editing of Think and Grow Rich . Hill's biographers would later say this book sold 20 million copies over 50 years, although as Richard Lingeman remarks in his brief biography, "Alice Payne Hackett's 70 Years of Best Sellers suggests

3690-466: The United States from England and settled in southwestern Virginia in 1847. His father was a dentist , at first unofficially and then with a license. Hill's mother died when he was nine years old, and his father remarried two years later to Martha. According to Landers and Ritt his stepmother was a good influence for him: "Hill's stepmother, the widow of a school principal, civilized the wild-child, Napoleon, making him go to school and attend church." At

3772-404: The age of 13, Hill began writing as a "mountain reporter", initially for his father's newspaper. At the age of fifteen, he married a local girl who had accused him of fathering her child; the girl later recanted the claim, and the marriage was annulled . At the age of seventeen, Hill graduated from high school and moved to Tazewell, Virginia , to attend business school . In 1901, Hill accepted

3854-503: The basis of identity or pre-disposition. For more temporary concerns, such as bereavement or episodic medical conditions, a support group may veer more towards helping those involved to overcome or push through their condition/experience. Some support groups and conditions for which such groups may be formed are: Since at least 1982, the Internet has provided a venue for support groups. Discussing online self-help support groups as

3936-595: The book Success Through A Positive Mental Attitude . Norman Vincent Peale is quoted saying that Hill and Stone "have the rare gift of inspiring and helping people" and that he owes "them both a personal debt of gratitude for the helpful guidance I have received from their writings." The book is listed in John C. Maxwell 's A Lifetime "Must Read" Books List . Hill claimed insight into racism, slavery, oppression, failure, revolution, war, and poverty, asserting that overcoming these difficulties using his "Philosophy of Achievement"

4018-474: The day or night. This allows users to get the support they need whenever they need it, while remaining comfortable and, if they so wish, anonymous. Although there has been relatively little research on the effectiveness of online support groups in mental health, there is some evidence that online support groups can be beneficial. Large randomised controlled trials have both found positive effects and failed to find positive effects. Napoleon Hill This

4100-437: The demand… The more people read them, the more they think they need them… more like an addiction than an alliance." Self-help writers have been described as working "in the area of the ideological, the imagined, the narrativized… although a veneer of scientism permeates the[ir] work, there is also an underlying armature of moralizing." Christopher Buckley in his book God Is My Broker asserts: "The only way to get rich from

4182-737: The desire to support and help each other, and many times participants go on the sites in order to get help themselves or are limited to a certain subgroup. An additional benefit to online support groups is that participation is asynchronous. This means that it is not necessary for all participants to be logged into the forum simultaneously in order to communicate. An experience or question can be posted and others can answer questions or comment on posts whenever they are logged in and have an appropriate response. This characteristic allows for participation and mass communication without having to worry about time constraints. Additionally, there are 24-hour chat rooms and spaces for focused conversation at all times of

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4264-633: The employees by reporting them to the FBI as a spy. Hill founded the Peptomists and the Co-Operative Club which advertised themselves as business organizations in the style of the rotary club . During 1928, Hill relocated to Philadelphia and persuaded a Connecticut -based publisher to publish his eight-volume work The Law of Success (1925). The book was Hill's first major success, allowing Hill to adopt an opulent lifestyle. By 1929, he had already bought

4346-483: The first explicitly "self-help" book, titled Self-Help , in 1859. Its opening sentence: "Heaven helps those who help themselves", provides a variation of "God helps them that help themselves", the oft-quoted maxim that had also appeared previously in Benjamin Franklin 's Poor Richard's Almanack (1733–1758). In 1902, James Allen published As a Man Thinketh , which proceeds from the conviction that "a man

4428-456: The foundation and his widow Annie Lou were embroiled in a protracted court battle over the estate, which lasted into the 1980s. The foundation maintains a private archive of Hill's papers. It awards the annual Napoleon Hill Award. The foundation continues to sell Hill's books, courses, and leadership certificates. In 1995 the authorized biography of Hill's life, A Lifetime of Riches , was released by Michael J. Ritt Jr. (the executive director of

4510-604: The genre with How to Win Friends and Influence People . Having failed in several careers, Carnegie became fascinated with success and its link to self-confidence , and his books have since sold over 50 million copies. Group and corporate attempts to help people help themselves have created a self-help marketplace, with Large Group Awareness Trainings (LGATs) and psychotherapy systems represented. These offer more-or-less prepackaged solutions to instruct people seeking their betterment, just as "the literature of self-improvement directs

4592-490: The group. Psychologists call this high group cohesion , and it is the pinnacle of group achievement." Several studies have shown the importance of the Internet in providing social support, particularly to groups with chronic health problems. Especially in cases of uncommon ailments, a sense of community and understanding in spite of great geographical distances can be important, in addition to sharing of knowledge. Online support groups, online communities for those affected by

4674-470: The groups which are set up by the people with the problems, rather than by researchers and healthcare professionals. User-defined groups can share the sort of practical knowledge that healthcare professionals can overlook, and they also impact on how individuals find, interpret and use information. There are many benefits to online support groups that have been found through research studies. Although online support group users are not required to be anonymous,

4756-600: The human mind can believe, the human mind can achieve. That is the Supreme Secret.... This is the secret known in bygone times; this is the secret which governs present-day accomplishment; this is the secret which will follow man to the stars. This is the secret of the ages. He presents the notion of a "Definite Major Purpose" as a challenge to his readers to ask themselves: "In what do I truly believe?" According to Hill, "98%" of people have few or no strong beliefs, which made their achieving success unlikely. Hill declares that

4838-489: The lack of qualitative directories, and the fact that many support groups are not listed by search engines can make finding an appropriate group difficult. Even so, he does say that the medical community needs "to understand the use of personal experiences rather than an evidence-based approach... these groups also impact on how individuals use information. They can help people learn how to find and use information: for example, users swap Web sites and discuss Web sites." It

4920-600: The life story of his son Blair is an inspiration to him, claiming that despite being born without ears, Blair had grown up able to hear and speak almost normally. Hill reports that his son, during his last year of college, read chapter two of the manuscript of Think and Grow Rich , discovered Hill's secret "for himself", and then inspired "hundreds and thousands" of people who could neither listen nor speak. From 1952 to 1962, Hill taught his Philosophy of Personal Achievement—Lectures on Science of Success in association with W. Clement Stone . During 1960, Hill and Stone co-authored

5002-592: The meaningful advancement of self-help. Kathryn Schulz suggests that "the underlying theory of the self-help industry is contradicted by the self-help industry’s existence". The self-help world has become the target of parodies . Walker Percy 's odd genre-busting Lost in the Cosmos has been described as "a parody of self-help books, a philosophy textbook, and a collection of short stories, quizzes, diagrams, thought experiments, mathematical formulas, made-up dialogue". Al Franken 's self-help guru persona Stuart Smalley

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5084-513: The notion of eudaimonia —of well-being, welfare, flourishing." The Discourses of Epictetus can be read as a sort of early self-help advice column, and the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius as the journal of someone engaged on a deliberate self-help program. The genre of mirror-of-princes writing , which has a long history in Greco-Roman and Western Renaissance literature, represents

5166-557: The number was considerably less." Wealthy once more, Hill resumed his lavish lifestyle and purchased a new estate in Mount Dora, Florida . Napoleon and Rosa become involved with The Royal Fraternity of the Master Metaphysicians , a cult led by James Bernard Schafer , which regarded Think and Grow Rich as a religious text. Napoleon became the godfather of "Baby Jene", a child the cult had adopted and claimed to be raising in such

5248-485: The personal magazines Hill's Golden Rule and Napoleon Hill's Magazine . In 1919 the Federal Trade Commission brought charges against Hill and Hill's Golden Rule for fraudulent advertising and laundering funds meant for a veteran's charity into a fraudulent oil stock scheme. Hill claimed that it was in 1918 following the collapse of GWI that Woodrow Wilson personally reached out to Hill for his help winning

5330-420: The point that the protagonist, Snowman, is instructed to write his thesis on self-help books as literature; more revealing of the authors and of the society that produced them than genuinely helpful. Support groups In a support group , members provide each other with various types of help, usually nonprofessional and nonmaterial, for a particular shared, usually burdensome, characteristic. Members with

5412-1315: The popular genre of self-help books . According to the APA Dictionary of Psychology , potential benefits of self-help groups that professionals may not be able to provide include friendship, emotional support, experiential knowledge , identity , meaningful roles, and a sense of belonging. Many different self-help group programs exist, each with its own focus, techniques, associated beliefs, proponents, and in some cases leaders . Concepts and terms originating in self-help culture and Twelve-Step culture, such as recovery , dysfunctional families , and codependency have become integrated into mainstream language. Self-help groups associated with health conditions may consist of patients and caregivers . As well as featuring long-time members sharing experiences , these health groups can become support groups and clearinghouses for educational material. Those who help themselves by learning and identifying health problems can be said to exemplify self-help, while self-help groups can be seen more as peer-to-peer or mutual-support groups. In classical antiquity , Hesiod 's Works and Days "opens with moral remonstrances, hammered home in every way that Hesiod can think of." The Stoics offered ethical advice "on

5494-486: The precursor to e-therapy, Martha Ainsworth notes that "the enduring success of these groups has firmly established the potential of computer-mediated communication to enable discussion of sensitive personal issues." In one study of the effectiveness of online support groups among patients with head and neck cancer, longer participation in online support groups were found to result in a better health-related quality of life. A researcher from University College London says

5576-420: The problem of the members, such as social workers, psychologists, or members of the clergy. The facilitator controls discussions and provides other managerial service. Such professionally operated groups are often found in institutional settings, including hospitals , drug-treatment centers and correctional facilities . These types of support groups may run for a specified period of time, and an attendance fee

5658-531: The reader to familiar frameworks... what the French fin de siècle social theorist Gabriel Tarde called 'the grooves of borrowed thought'." A subgenre of self-help book series exists, such as the for Dummies guides and The Complete Idiot's Guide to... , that are varieties of how-to books . At the start of the 21st century, "the self-improvement industry, inclusive of books, seminars, audio and video products, and personal coaching, [was] said to constitute

5740-688: The rigor of academe and the fun of the self-help movement." They aim to refine the self-improvement field by intentionally increasing scientifically sound research and well-engineered models. The division of focus and methodologies has produced several sub-fields, in particular: general positive psychology, focusing primarily on studying psychological phenomenon and effects; and personal effectiveness , focusing primarily on analysis, design, and implementation of qualitative personal growth. The latter of these includes intentionally training new patterns of thought and feeling. As business strategy communicator Don Tapscott puts it, "Why not courses that emphasize designing

5822-460: The same issues can come together for sharing coping strategies, to feel more empowered and for a sense of community. The help may take the form of providing and evaluating relevant information, relating personal experiences, listening to and accepting others' experiences, providing sympathetic understanding and establishing social networks . A support group may also work to inform the public or engage in advocacy. Formal support groups may appear to be

5904-517: The self-help movement to have been inaugurated by George Combe 's Constitution (1828), from the way that it advocated personal responsibility and the possibility of naturally sanctioned self-improvement through education or proper self-control. In 1841, an essay by Ralph Waldo Emerson , entitled Compensation , was published suggesting "every man in his lifetime needs to thank his faults" and "acquire habits of self-help " as "our strength grows out of our weakness." Samuel Smiles (1812–1904) published

5986-459: The self-help role of her books" to maintain her academic credibility, aware of the danger that "writing a book that becomes a popular success...all but ensures that one's work will lose its long-term legitimacy." Placebo effects can never be wholly discounted. Careful studies of "the power of subliminal self-help tapes... showed that their content had no real effect... But that's not what the participants thought." "If they thought they'd listened to

6068-509: The time. The authenticity of many of Hill's claims has been widely disputed. Napoleon Hill's collaboration with Andrew Carnegie has remained contentious. " The acknowledgments in his 1928 multi-volume work The Law of Success , listed forty-five of those he had studied, "the majority of these men at close range, in person", like those to whom the book set was dedicated: Andrew Carnegie, Henry Ford , and Edwin C. Barnes (an associate of Thomas Edison ). Hill reported that Carnegie had given him

6150-758: The total market size would grow to over US$ 11 billion by 2008. In 2013 Kathryn Schulz examined "an $ 11 billion industry". Self-help and mutual-help are very different from—though they may complement—aid by professionals. Conflicts can and do arise on that interface, however, with some professionals considering that, for example, "the twelve-step approach encourages a kind of contemporary version of 19th-century amateurism or enthusiasm in which self-examination and very general social observations are enough to draw rather large conclusions." The rise of self-help culture led to boundary disputes with other approaches and disciplines. Some would object to their classification as "self-help" literature, as with " Deborah Tannen 's denial of

6232-421: The website any time during the day. Each of these characteristics of online support groups are not offered when going to an in-person support group. In a study conducted by Gunther Eysenbach, John Powell, Marina Englesakis, Carlos Rizo, and Anita Stern (2004), the researchers found it difficult to draw conclusions on the effectiveness of online peer-to-peer support groups. In online support groups, people must have

6314-406: The writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson and are listed as New Thought reading. Hill has been seen as inspiring later self-help works, such as Rhonda Byrne 's The Secret . Gizmodo has called him "the most famous conman you've probably never heard of". The Napoleon Hill Foundation is a nonprofit foundation that promotes the teachings of Napoleon Hill. Following the death of Napoleon in 1970,

6396-684: Was a ridiculous recurring feature on Saturday Night Live in the early 1990s. In their 2006 book Secrets of The SuperOptimist , authors W.R. Morton and Nathaniel Whitten revealed the concept of "super optimism" as a humorous antidote to the overblown self-help book category. In his comedy special Complaints and Grievances (2001), George Carlin observes that there is "no such thing" as self-help: anyone looking for help from someone else does not technically get "self" help; and one who accomplishes something without help did not need help to begin with. In Margaret Atwood 's semi-satiric dystopia Oryx and Crake , university literary studies have declined to

6478-475: Was allegedly influenced by Hill's spirit voices; Hill cites the "Master", writing: "Much of what he said already has been presented to you in the chapters of this book or will follow in other chapters." In Chapter 14 of his book Think and Grow Rich (1937), he openly talks about his "invisible counselors" with whom he discusses various areas of his life. Hill refers to these meetings with his counselors as being real because he consistently told himself they were real,

6560-552: Was from a wealthy West Virginia family. Despite investment from her family, the Automobile College of Washington closed in 1912. He subsequently moved to Chicago and accepted a job with the La Salle Extension University , before co-founding the Betsy Ross Candy Shop. Hill was soon forced out of the candy shop by his partners and had left La Salle within a year of starting. In September 1915, he established

6642-463: Was superior to those of others and that its principles were responsible for the successes of Americans. Hill blamed failure on such emotions as fear and selfishness. A "secret" of achievement was discussed in Think and Grow Rich , but Hill did not explicitly identify this secret in the book, insisting that readers would benefit most if they discovered it for themselves. In the introduction, Hill states of

6724-482: Was the responsibility of every human. Later in life, Hill claimed that the turning point of his life had been a 1908 assignment to interview the industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie . At that time, Carnegie was among the most powerful men in the world. Hill wrote that Carnegie had actually met with him at that time and challenged him to interview wealthy people to discover a simple formula for success, and that he had then interviewed many successful people of

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