What Does "Self Help" Mean?

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Knowing what first caused a problem may not be enough to solve it.

Many self-help techniques are variations on a few core psychological strategies.

Good plans include risk factors, early warning signs, and coping strategies.

Written plans can help prevent, spot, and manage recurring problems.

By Spencer Greenberg, Ph.D. and Jeremy Stevenson

In the process of writing our new book, The 12 Levers, which involved reading over 100 of the most popular self-improvement books and studying nearly 500 popular techniques, we encountered some important ideas about self-improvement that are often overlooked. Today, we'd like to share four of them.

1. It's usually better to focus on current causes instead of past causes.

Sometimes we get wrapped up in trying to understand why we have a problem in the first place.

Why do I feel anxious so often? Is it because of the way my parents treated me?

What happened in my childhood that made it so hard to trust people?

It makes sense to be interested in what initiated a problem. It can be validating and interesting. And understanding the original cause sometimes does help reveal the current solution. If getting into this relationship caused me to feel depressed, then I can probably leave the relationship and feel better.

But usually, understanding the root cause far back in our history is not the fastest or most effective way to produce lasting change.

Take trauma. Suppose you had a horrendous car crash and ever since then, you've had frightening symptoms, like intrusive thoughts, nightmares, and a driving phobia. You know that the car crash initially caused these symptoms, and yet, this knowledge doesn't free you from them.

The same is often true for depression. You might have become depressed originally because you lost your........

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