Rating: 
Summary: Tremendous
Review: This is a fantastic book. You can tell that it is a motivational book of the highest quality by the fact that it has not one, but two colons in the title.
Rating:
Summary: Everyone should read this
Review: This is one of the most illuminating books I've read about how we came to be who we are and what our real prospects are for healing and change. Read it slowly, pausing to reflect on how each section might apply to you and those you know.It should be noted that this book is almost 10 years old and should be read in light of subsequent developments in therapy and pharmacology. Since it was written, for example, newer drugs have become available, and EMDR has come into wide acceptance as a potent treatment for PTSD. Nevertheless, the postulates that the self-help industry continues to recite seem to have changed very little, and I don't know of anything new that would invalidate Seligman's basic findings.
Rating: 
Summary: Depressive Realism Applied to Self-Improvement Attempts
Review: With all the authority of a long and distinguished reseach career in psychology, Martin Seligman sets out to present something like a consumer guide to self-improvement and psychotherapy. (This is not a recipe book for dealing with your problems.) The results are sobering: from the range of most frequent psychological afflictions, only a few will reliably be relieved by treatment. You can - with appropriate help from a responsible mental health professional - do something about - panic attacks - specific phobias (snakes, spiders, flying, etc.) - sexual dysfunctions. With other problems, such as depression and addiction, "moderate relief" is the best psychiatrists have to offer, often (when psychoactive medication is used) at a considerable price. Beyond that, - enjoy your sexual orientation, - enjoy your weight (dieting will improve it upwards, in the long run), - stop blaming unsatisfactory results of your adult life on your childhood and your parents - it won't do you any good, and there is much less of a causal relationship anyway. All this is presented clearly, with "whys" and "hows", and with ample references. If you consider undergoing psychotherapy, or if you're stuck with a self-improvement attempt, this book may save you lots of money and trouble. (Being more or less left to your own devices may be a letdown, but it may also give you a realistic chance to cope with your situation.) If you're professionally working in the mental health field, you will find much food for thought as well, especially in Seligman's candid statements about the many relevant questions that have not yet been scientifically settled or which even have not been researched at all. And unless you're a practicioner of that method, you may be slightly amused with the author's treatment of psychoanalysis - with disorder after disorder, it doesn't have much of an effect... Given the way our culture is soaked with psychoanalytic beliefs and assumptions, this is something that can't be said often enough
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