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What You Can Change And What You Can't: The Complete Guide to Successful Self-Improvement
by Martin E. Seligman
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Knopf (1993-12-14)
ISBN: 0679410244
EAN: 9780679410249
Dewy Decimal #: 158.1
Hardcover: 317 pages
Edition: 1st
Release Date: 1993-12-14
SKU: B-65-0612
Condition: Like New Like New Fi
Comments: Stated First Edition. Hardback in very good condition with no markings except. Dust jacket in very good condition with minor shelf wear. Tight binding and clear crisp text. Very nice book.
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Editorial Reviews
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Product Description
The author of Learned Optimism discusses what someone can and cannot change about his or herself and talks about developing the skills to change and the skills to cope. 75,000 first printing. $75,000 ad/promo. BOMC Alt.
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Customer Reviews
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Matter of Depth
Rating  (5)
Date: 2008-08-02
1 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
Unlike other so-called "self-help" books, What You Can Change and What You Can't* surfaces the root of a range of discussed problems ranging from obsessions & compulsions to alcoholism. What makes this book different and thus invaluable as a "self-improvement" book is the inherent honesty, brought about by scientific scrutiny and the author's intention to provide professional, complete and unbiased assessments on what one can change, and what one cannot.
Whilst numerous other books of this category attempts to instil optimism but does nothing more than skim the surface, this book provides clear scientific details to each condition/disease discussed along with the corresponding treatments available, and how well each works.
Unbiased and very specific, the author is very clear on what to conclude on and mark as definitive and what remains unclear based on the most recent studies available, and the data they yield. When the author exerts a professional opinion, he articulates the reason behind it and provides clear data to support it, which comes across as responsible and confident.
For a category of reading so saturated with ideas that do not much more than skim the surface, I see What You Can Change and What You Can't* as a rare breed that gets to the core of the problem, and hence makes it truly useful in facilitating change and accepting what cannot, yet, be changed.
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Wise and Stimulating
Rating (5)
Date: 2008-05-29
3 out of 3 customers found this reveiw helpful
Martin Seligman first came to notice for his introduction of the concept of learned helplessness, which has given birth to the practice of cognitive therapy. Here he addresses psychological problems ranging from unipolar and bipolar depression to phobias and evaluates the merits of several types of treatment for each.
One might expect him always to recommend cognitive therapy for each problem, but he does not. He is consistently objective and humble. Moreover, his prose is clear, concise, and frequently witty, and this book his stimulated me to a great deal of additional thought, both about the things with which I immediately agreed and some things about which I disagree somewhat.
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Good one, but......
Rating (5)
Date: 2008-02-15
5 out of 5 customers found this reveiw helpful
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.
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A learned treatise on psychological problems
Rating  (4)
Date: 2008-02-06
4 out of 4 customers found this reveiw helpful
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.
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Don't Waste Your Money
Rating  (1)
Date: 2007-08-22
11 out of 37 customers found this reveiw helpful
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.
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