Product Description

In the climate of self-improvement that pervades our culture, there is an overwhelming amount of information about treatments for everything from alcohol abuse to sexual dysfunction. Much of this information is exaggerated if not wholly inaccurate. As a result, people who try to change their own troubling conditions often experience the frustration of mixed success, success followed by a relapse, or outright failure.

To address this confusion, Martin Seligman has meticulously analyzed the most authoritative scientific research on treatments for alcoholism, anxiety, weight loss, anger, depression, and a range of phobias and obsessions to discover what is the most effective way to address each condition. He frankly reports what does not work, and pinpoints the techniques and therapies that work best for each condition, discussing why they work and how you can use them to make long lasting change. Inside you’ll discover the four natural healing factors for recovering from alcoholism; the vital difference between overeating and being overweight; the four therapies that work for depression, the pros and cons of anger--and much more.

Wise, direct, and very useful, What You Can Change and What You Can’t will help anyone who seeks to change.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #40841 in Books
• Published on: 2007-01-09
• Released on: 2007-01-09
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 336 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Psychologist Seligman ( Learned Optimism ) here examines common psychological disorders according to their biological and societal, or learned, components. Most enlightening are his analyses of the effectiveness of relaxation, meditation, psychoanalysis and cognitive therapies in the treatment of anxiety, which, along with depression and anger, he claims, can largely be controlled by disciplined effort. Tables demonstrating the success rates of various approaches to given problems, evaluative questionnaires and mostly jargon-free prose complement Seligman's comprehensive, unformulaic discussion. Maintaining that dieting will not help people who are overweight ("Weight is in large part genetic"), the author urges a focus on fitness and health; asserting that a child's psyche heals faster than an adult's, he observes that childhood trauma does not necessarily shape one's adult life: "the rest of the tapestry is not determined by what has been woven before." Direct, instructive and nonreductive, Seligman's observations and theories are positive, realistic and sound. 75,000 first printing; BOMC alternate.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Seligman (psychology, Univ. of Pennsylvania) has written a number of earlier books, including Learned Optimism ( LJ 11/91). In this latest, he examines the psychology of individual change. He begins by reviewing the history of psychological change and the role of psychiatric biology; he then examines the emotional changes that can alleviate everyday stress, panic, phobias, obsession, anger, and depression. Throughout, Seligman uses outcome studies to identify what works in making change. In the third section, he addresses physical change involving sex, diet, and alcohol. The author concludes by summarizing his beliefs that what you can change depends on the depth of the problem and that childhood trauma need not define an adult indefinitely. This extremely well-written book, while aimed at the lay reader, is appropriate for students and professionals as well. Highly recommended for both academic and public libraries.
- Kay Brodie, Chesapeake Coll., Wye Mills, Md.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
The subtitle of this psychological self-help adviser seems to promise impossibly more than could be delivered. But Seligman is so much more sensible and lucid than most self-help gurus that he encourages thinking that, yes, this is all we can say--and do--right now about changing undesirable behaviors. "Two worlds views are in collision," Seligman says, over the prospects of behavioral change. Those products of the Western concept of free will--psychotherapy and self-improvement--maintain that behavior is malleable through a variety of conscious techniques. Biological psychiatry asserts that mental illness is physically caused, personality is genetically fixed, and brain chemistry determines emotions; change is possible only by physical interventions, primarily pharmaceutical but also surgical. Seligman comes down between those two extremes in recommending what to do about anxiety, phobias, depression, sexual problems, weight, alcohol use, etc. He advocates techniques that have demonstrably achieved lasting change or--what is far more likely--reduction in the frequency of undesired behavior. He bases his advice in sound research and highly educated inference, which means that his book constantly rewards anyone interested in individual psychology. In the last two chapters, Seligman offers first a devastating critique of the notion that childhood traumas shape adult behavior, particularly as that belief is exploited by the recovery movement, and then his own theory of behavioral change, in which change is possible according to the depth of the behavior--e.g., sexual orientation is very deeply entrenched, hence very difficult to alter, but panic attacks are very shallow and fairly easily eradicated. Absolutely splendid. Ray Olson

Customer Reviews

Good one, but......
First off, this book is very good.
Martin Seligman, ever the excellent research psychologist provides an overview over the big mental diseases and disorders. From everyday anxiety to panic attacks, phobias, obsessive-compulsive disorders to depression, post-traumatic stress disorder to sexual disorders, overweight and alcoholism Seligman has reviewed the literature and provides concise advice on what works for each condition and what does not. In between he mentions VERY interesting research results and historic developments in the treatment of psychological ills. These newest findings have changed his opinions as well. While in his 1993 Bestseller "Learned Optimism" he still supported the more behaviorist approaches of f.e. pessimism - the primary risk factor for later-life depression - being conditioned through "bad role modeling" by parent's dealing with adverse events (which could be UNLEARNED), he now, due to identical-twin studies, attributes virtually all mental disorders to heritability.
In a fascinating account on pages 39ff. ("Your genes and your personality") a picture of the human being as an essentially inflexible biological machine emerges, whose innate mental tendencies towards for instance anger, anxiety or depression can be at most mitigated by therapy and medication, but never cured.
Albeit I - as I'm sure he'd want to - stress that heritability in all twin-studies accounted for at most 50% probability that the personality trait of a parent would be present in the child. Incredible for example is the genetic link for criminal behavior in children and biological parents vs. adoptive parents.

But I have two points of criticism:
What I find very likeable about Seligman is that, as he pointed out in "Learned optimism" as well as this book, he is really a innate pessimist.
As such, I think he, like another reviewer here, paints a too bleak of a picture of the treament efficacies.
For starters I seriously question his claim that depression treatment works only in 2/3 of patients. I'd really guess it's more like ¾.
Second of all, he thinks it's a real disappointment, that drugs and therapy don't cure.

Why did anybody ever think you could DISCONTINUE mental treatments after time.
Why do people pray for divine help 5 times every day and incessantly go to church on Sundays.
Obviously mental issues are deeply engrained into the brain physiology. These disorders are not outside invaders that could be cast out by drugs or therapy. They are construction flaws in one's mind that must be steadily contained through long-term treatment as long as there is no such thing as "psycho-surgery".

Also i got the impression except for alcoholism and overweight he unduly plays down the improvements on many of the treatments. Be it OCD, depression, everyday anxiety or especially PTSD, whose improvements he describes as "marginal" these "marginal" improvements can mean the difference between suicide and a bearable, even content existence in many people. But of course he is right to point out, that whatever of these conditions you have, they're never gonna go completely away, and relapses are common. "But you can still manage", I would add to that.

Bottom line is, if you got any of the above disorders this is a good book. If you want more of as the title suggests a "successful guide to self-improvement" go with "Three-minute therapy" by Michael Edelstein. He covers also less pathological issues like money problems, dealing with overeating and smoking, depression, anger, panic, (social) anxieties, chronic worrying and even procrastination. Very good self-help book.
Seligman's is more like a reference book.

A learned treatise on psychological problems
The self-improvement industry spends billions to convince people that their psychological and physical problems are fixable. The magazine covers at the checkout counter extol the latest miracle diet, but most of the people in line with you are overweight. Seasoned mental-health professional and former president of the American Psychological Association, Martin E. P. Seligman, Ph.D., has bad news for the seriously overweight: Diets don't work. Plus, he tells alcoholics and people with deep-seated emotional afflictions, there are no definitive cures for them. He notes, however, that a large minority of alcoholics do recover, though no approach is guaranteed. Seligman, whose views have generated both gratitude and controversy, details which psychological problems are treatable and which are not. His candid attitude is laudable and his advice seems well-informed, if perhaps generalized. If you've gotten thin, you've beaten the odds. Meanwhile, he recommends that people learn to live bravely with daunting emotional issues they cannot completely master - because, he says, mastery probably isn't possible. getAbstract finds this treatise about what is and isn't fixable both sobering and valuable.

Don't Waste Your Money
I don't understand how this book received so many good reviews, unless the author has a lot of friends who shop at Amazon.

I'll keep this short. If you're looking for help, you won't find it here. If you like outdated rhetoric, this is the book for you. For example, the author explains that one of the four cures "that work" for depression is electro-shock therapy. The last time I heard of someone actually receiving electro-shock therapy was forty years ago.

In another section, the author spends several pages explaining that depression is more prevalent now than it was fifty years ago. Is there anyone on earth who doesn't know that?

In short, please don't waste your money on this drivel! There's nothing new here, the author can't write a readable sentence, and the print is small and dark and smudgy. A difficult and useless read.