The Shrinking of America: Myths of Psychological Change

Ive spent my life trying to find the ultimate, most effective psychotherapy. I should have read this book instead. Amazing.

In this book Zilbergeld takes a look at the places therapy and self transformation hold in our culture. He doesn't say that therapy is worthless (and in fact I seem to remember that he is a therapist himself with a significant reputation), but he does make a powerful case for his opinions that therapy and psychoanalysis are relentlessly overprescribed and oversold, both by practitioners and, surprisingly, by clients as well. He also marshals some impressive arguments in favor of his theory that practitioners and clients have a strong tendency to overestimate personal transformation attributed to therapy.This is not a mindless attack on the crystal-worshiping therapy-and-self-actualization set. This is a very intelligent examination of how the various therapy disciplines have come to occupy the position that they do, and how their limitations have generally not been critically exposed before the public.I consider this to be a very significant book, and I'm very disappointed to see that my opinion is apparently not very widely shared, given that the book is out of print.

This is a readable yet well referenced critique of modern psychiatry. The author's premise is that there is absolutely not one shred of scientific evidence to prove that psychiatry works. The alleged "cures" or helps are often natural processes at work -- especially in cyclic disorders -- or helps which could equally well be provided by friends, ministers, etc.