Self-Help Silliness.

I just read one of those self-help articles on the internet. This one was about depression. It made me smile a lot, as self-help articles usually do.

The problem with them is that they’re laughably simplistic. They seem to be written for the type of person whose reading matter consists entirely of half-witted magazines which are there to fill the gaps when there are no soaps, game shows or lifestyle gurus to ogle on the TV. And their biggest fault is the non sequitor. Let me offer an example.

‘Research has shown that night owls are three times more likely to suffer depression than early birds.’

Therefore, says the article, regularly going to bed late makes you depressed. If this is all there is to it, then it’s like saying ‘I prayed to God for rain yesterday, and today it rained. This proves that God answered my prayer.’ Isn’t it at least equally likely that the kind of person who regularly goes to bed late does so because he or she has certain personality traits which might include a propensity to depression? So while there might be a circumstantial link between going to bed late and being depressed, no causal link is evident or should be assumed.

Of course, if the article had said ‘Research has shown that the later you go to bed, the more likely your brain is to produce a chemical that has been shown to be associated with depressive illness’ it would be different. But it didn’t.

I think the only worthwhile advice would have to be this:

‘Self-help articles are likely to cause a paranoid and delusional mindset, so be prepared to smile a lot and take everything they say with a large pinch of salt.’