I don't have many (maybe not any) friends that I can really talk with about personal development either. I agree self-help has a bad image, and it really is too bad. I think that's changing though, because psychology (which is what self-help is based on ultimately) is taking a lot more interest in topics like happiness, creativity, life-fulfillment, etc.. and my hope is that all the new psychological research going on in self-help topics will give self-help some more legitimacy by making it more scientific.
A lot of this new psychological research is happening in a field called positive psychology. In fact, the harvard course on positive psychology is the most popular course at harvard, and it's taught by Tal Ben-Shahar, who wrote 'Happier: Learn the Secrets to Daily Joy and Lasting Fulfillment'. I haven't read the book so I can't comment, but I have read a lot of the psychological research that it's based on and it's really fascinating stuff.
So if you're looking to broach self-help as a topic to someone they might be more receptive if you introduce it as psychology rather than self-help. |