Azha Amina Akbar
Virtues are one of the significant factors that makes homo sapiens unique from all other living creatures. It is a set of human traits that makes an individual morally distinguished. By the term virtues, it can imply any kind of behavior that elicits an appreciative and constructive response in ourselves as well as in those around us. Helping our fellow beings is one such virtue that crowns a person to being accepted and loved. Agreeing on that point, the question to be noted is ‘How often do we help ourselves’?
What is Self Help?
Self-help is a form of reflection about one’s own nature, understanding one’s own strengths and weaknesses and providing support to oneself by using various strategies. It is a route towards self-improvement by focusing on one’s own personal life and dealing with difficult situations in a way that is most applicable for an individual.
What are the strategies used in Self-Help?
There are various methods of self-help that can be chosen according the individual’s choices, interests and comfort. What one person might find as helpful will not be so for another. While some prefer sticking to self-help books, some others might want to be a part of a self-help group and connect with likeminded people. The most commonly preferred self-help strategies are-
1. Self-Help Books
Books are one of the best modes of furnishing self-help. There are supportive studies that proves the fact that for some people self-help books are known to provide insights to facing life situations and even opens a route to happiness and optimistic thinking. Self-help books even leads to improvement in depressive symptoms in college freshmen (Parks, C. A. & Szanto, R. K., 2013). One of the most sold copies (over 50 million) of self-help books are the collection of writings by Dale Carnegie which includes, How Stop Worrying and Start Living, How to Win Friends and Influence People etc.
2. Self-Talk
Positive self-talk about the things that worry us can be a great aid to successfully overcoming those fears. We often say to ourselves that ‘I just cannot do this!’ or ‘Will I be able to do this?!’ Practicing self-talk guides, us into transforming these statements to affirmative ones like ‘I will try doing this and put in my best effort’ and ‘I can and I will, whatever the end result might be’. There are studies revealing that positive self-talk can enhance self-confidence and reduce anxiety in people (Hatzigiogiardiz, A. et. al.). Talking to ourselves, either loudly or quietly, allows us to have a clarity over our hidden thoughts and makes us understand our feelings.
3. Personal Coaching
With increasing pace of stressful work and racing life, having a personal coach or a life coach is an effective self-help method though one might be confused of placing this title under self-help category since it involves a second person. But recent studies show that personal coaching can be a self-help strategy to seek for professional consultancy to have a deeper understanding on our areas of weaknesses and strengths.
4. Self Help Groups
Self-help groups can avail much source of support and guidance from people who undergo similar issues. In Self-help communities, people who share common problems come together as a group and help each other form practical solutions and ideas to come out of the personal problems of each individual belonging to the group. This can help a person understand and evaluate his/her difficulties in various perspectives and also have an in depth reflection about it with the aid of others who might have had similar experiences. There are various psychological self-help groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous(AA), Narcotics Anonymous(NA) etc.
References
Parks, C. A. & Szanto, R. K. (2013). Assessing the Efficacy and Effectiveness of a Positive Psychology Based Self Help Book. Retrieved from: https://www.redalyc.org/pdf/785/78525710013.pdf
Hatzigiogiardiz, A., Zourbanos, N., Mpoumpaki, S., & Theodorakis, Y. (2008). Mechanisms underlying the self-talk–performance relationship: The effects of motivational self-talk on self-confidence and anxiety. Psychology of Sport and Exercise: Vol 10. Retrieved from: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1469029208000642
Cuijpers, P. & Schuurmans, J. (2007). Self-help interventions for Anxiety Disorders: An Overview. Current Psychiatry reports. Retrieved from: https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s11920-007-0034-6.pdf
this is really amazing article.. buddy thanks for writing 🙂
Only a while ago was I reading an article on “mental health of caregivers” and wondering how such self-care articles are necessary and I’m glad you wrote this piece. The tips are pretty handy and readily usable by the readers and that is a good thing. Journal writing, meditation/exercise are all additional tips for self-help. Really like the concise nature of the article Good work.
A very thought provoking article. Good discussion, its really important. Thank you so much. Just a suggestion, there could be a better conclusion. Keep writing.
Great work and informative… Precisely written.
This is a very informative article. All of us at some point need self help. It would be great if you could add a pointer which emphasis on talking to our close peer or writing and doing something that calms us. Just my suggestion…
Informative !