The Works Self Help
The Works Self Help is the house for practical books for living and working better, with an honest guide to what the evidence says.
What this house is for.
This house publishes practical books for living and working better. Its editorial purpose here is to set out what research and official guidance actually say about self-help, habit change and when professional support is appropriate, including where the evidence is limited or contested. It is general information for adult readers and not medical advice.
Titles to follow.
What this house covers.
What the evidence says works
Structured, CBT-based self-help has reasonable trial evidence for depression, and the evidence is stronger when a trained person gives some support. It is weaker for unguided material, for more severe symptoms and for books that are not built from tested programmes.
Read the guide02Habits and behaviour change: the research
Research on habits, if-then plans and goal setting gives useful but modest and variable estimates. The popular 66 day figure is an average from one small, self-reported study, and effect sizes for planning and goal setting differ widely by outcome and design.
Read the guide03Reading a self-help book critically
Judging a self-help claim means asking who is making it, how it was tested, how large the study was and whether anyone has repeated it. Several famous claims, including power posing, ego depletion and the 10,000 hour rule, have weakened under scrutiny.
Read the guide04When a book is not enough
Official guidance advises speaking to a health professional when low mood or distress is persistent or affecting daily life, and seeking urgent help when life may be at risk. This page lists support lines checked against official pages, and it is general information, not medical advice.
Read the guideThe numbers, with sources.
We publish a claim only when we have opened its source and read the passage that supports it. Each guide lists its sources with the date and a short quotation, so you can check us. Where evidence is mixed or weak, we say so. These guides are general information, not professional or medical advice.