Learned Optimism

Go back to whatever board you came from, friend. We don't talk about this stuff here.

>>7681418
Yeah, because all of your threads involve scholarly discussion, right? Like your YouTube book review waifus and DFW memes.

>>7681377
Yeah, I've read it. The content is very good for what it is. It's probably not going to help you if you're dead-set against self-help as a genre on a philosophical level.

Will it help me if I have a severe and pervading fear and expectation of failure in almost every aspect of my life?

>>7681693
It helps you see how your mindset contributes to your shortcomings. It won't completely cure you, but it points you in the right direction.

That's strange, I just started reading this book today. I'm actually pretty familiar with most of the concepts in it already because I'm a postgraduate performance psychology student with an interest in positive psychology, but I wanted to read this book to get a better understanding of some of these issues. I'm also deeply pessimistic (I think that it's a stable part of my personality rather than a learned cognitive style) and frequently depressed, and I wanted to see if Seligman had any sort of solution for that.

To any skeptics, I know it seems like a bullshit self-help book, but so does pretty much everything in performance psychology. The difference with this book (and a few similar ones) is that they're grounded in decades of rigorous psychological research, rather than just being charismatic preaching from some unqualified hack.

>>7681377
From experience, finding therapy that works for anyone takes a lot of work. Of you want to keep at it, maybe try a different group or go through a diffferent agency.

>>7682819
Thanks, but I already know how my mindset contributes to my shortcomings. Does it say how to change your mindset? I just can't seem to change what my first thought, feelings, and reactions are to a situation.

>>7683387
Yeah, it addresses that. I'm not too far into but I'm pretty sure it does.

>>7683387
Hate to be this guy, but you've just gotta do it. Your will is your own. Reach out and take what you want, don't let yourself get in the way.

Also, read Aurelius' Meditations and the Dao De Jing

>>7681377
Self-improvement books are a waste of your money and your time, without exception.

>>7685705
proofs?

>>7685705
I agree in general, but this book was written by the father of the positive psychology movement, and based upon decades of research. If any self-help book is valid, it's this one.

Throw that in the trash and read Thus Spoke Zarathustra, the most inspirational and life-affirming book ever written.

>>7682892
Does it quote it's research and reference studies?

>>7687700
I can't remember if he follows scientific referencing protocol (i.e. APA format, including article title and journal name) but he describes decades of research studies in a decent amount of depth. Make no mistake, this isn't some hack espousing the power of 'positive thinking' or anything like that - this is a clinical and experimental psychologist who has spent his lifetime studying firstly depression, and secondly positive functioning. The framework he uses (cognitive-behavioural) is probably the approach which has had the most success in treating depression, so there is a good amount of evidence behind this book.

If you want to read his studies as they appeared in the journals, they're pretty easy to find. Just go onto Google Scholar and type in Seligman, or go to his webpage and see the list of publications. If you're not at a uni then accessing some of them might be tricky, but you should be able to find a few pdfs you are able to look at.

>>7681377
I read it like 2 years ago, but I was already optimistic when I read it. It's mostly interesting to me because I'm interested in positive psychology as a field.

>>7681377
Positive thinking, change-your-attitude style self-help represents an unhealthy skepticism of human nature and a hostility towards experience and life, the notion that everything is beyond repair, which is the exact of opposite of what you need, I'm guessing. Wilful ignorance is not the answer.

Just get into literature, philosophy, and art. There really is no one book cure except, for many, the Bible.

bump`

>>7683387
I would check out cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). Basically what the other anons have recc'd put into simple steps / language.

>>7687732
Thanks.

>>7687754
Yes if all else fails the skylord will set you straight.

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>>7689084

>7689084
yea actually 2bh