Tuesday, September 27

Book Review: Negative Self-Talk and How to Change It by Shad Helmstetter




Author: Shad Helmstetter
Title: Negative Self-Talk and How to Change It
Genre: Self Help, Nonfiction
Format: paperback
Pages: 105
Published: May 7, 2019
Where I Got It: Borrowed copy

Summary: 
Negative Self-Talk and How to Change It is an immediately helpful, life-changing handbook of how to deal with negative self-talk –– for yourself, or anyone in your life.

Shad Helmstetter, Ph.D., the best-selling author of more than twenty books, is the leading authority in the field of self-talk today.

In this ’60-Minute’ Book™ written for today’s reader, Dr. Helmstetter gives you all of the important information you need to change negative self-talk forever, in a short, easy-to-read, and condensed format.

Also included is a special “Guide to Changing Your Self-Talk” from The Self-Talk Institute.



Review:
Once in a while (maybe one or two books) I like to grab a self-help book. Sometimes we have read them for a book club or sometimes I find a random one. This time my therapist actually let me borrow her copy since we are working on my own negative self-talk and self-esteem issues. 

This book goes over the science behind self-talk and how our brain gets programmed that way. It also goes over how you can rewire your brain to cut out negative self-talk and how it will change your life. 

What I found extremely interesting was the part in the Q&A section about affirmations and activities like making notes for yourself (for instance, my therapist suggested I start putting sticky notes on the mirror to force myself to read them). The authors states it is good to do that, but it is a short-term remedy. The author states that in order to change the rewiring you have to listen to self-help audios and tapes. Listening and watching others helps more than reading words you yourself wrote. I found this interesting AND it makes sense. A lot of time the main reason we have these self-esteem and negative self-talk is because of listening to people and society shoving the idea that we are worthless down our throats. 

I also found interesting the first few chapters about the actual science behind why we are negative. Very informative. I won't even go into explanation hahaha. 

This is a condensed version of all his other works to give the reader a quick read and some good tips. It only took me about 30 mins and I was taking notes too. Super quick and an easy read. The author did a good job simplifying the science-y parts.

I do wish there had been more actually tips. The author goes over the 3 steps which were fantastic and easy to understand and follow. But I was hoping for more actual HOWs and tips/tricks. 

In the end, this was a quick read and I learned quite a bit. Very interesting. I do wish there were more tips and tricks to ACTUALLY working on how to change how you think. Luckily I have my therapist who has given me a lot of tips, but if I wasn't in therapy already and reading this I would feel like "well...cool. I should change how I think but I need more help than that." Maybe his other books have more? The author has a load of other books. 

But yes, not bad overall. Very informative. I'll give this 3 stars. 






4 comments:

Blodeuedd said...

I do wonder why we are negative

Melliane said...

I confess I don't reallt read books like that

Jen Twimom said...

I try to talk myself out of negativeness. Meditation helps sometimes.

Carole Rae said...

B, our brains get wired that way through our young years. Society...parents...friends...ourselves.

Mel, I only like to read one once in a while. Like one a year.

Jen, it's hard but I have been trying to do better.