Self-help books for people with depression: a scoping review
Abstract
Background: There has been little research into self-help books for people with depression, despite the apparent plethora of such titles. As an initial step, we undertook a scoping review of available books.Aim: To identify the number of self-help books for people with depression or mixed anxiety and depression that are available in the UK and to describe their principle characteristics.Methods: We located publicly available self-help books for people with depression or mixed anxiety and depression. We extracted data from the books we located that included descriptive information (including the psychological approach used), readability statistics and popularity measures.Results: We analysed data from 97 books. These publications were diverse in both structure and content. Structure and readability data illustrated that many potential readers may have difficulty using some of them. Popularity proved to be an unreliable way of locating books that would fulfil NICE guidance for a CBT based self-help programme.Conclusions: Many of the available books are complex to read in terms of literacy levels and may present additional problems given the concentration problems of people with depression. There is no relationship between popularity and a book being evidence-based or readable.
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Self-administered stress management interventions may be more acceptable to college students than to other segments of the population due to the greater digital literacy of college students.
“Moreover, self-administered stress management interventions may be more acceptable to college students than to other segments of the population due to the greater digital literacy of college students (Fairburn and Patel, 2017; Richardson et al., 2009).”
From Effects of self-guided stress management interventions in college students: A systematic review and meta-analysis (2022) · cites this paper as Richardson et al., 2009
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- Authors
- Richardson, R., Richards, D. A., & Barkham, M.
- Affiliations
- University of York (GB)
- University of Sheffield (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Richardson, Rachel
- Venue
- Journal of Mental Health
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2008-01
- Volume
- 17
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 543-552
- ISSN
- 0963-8237 (ISSN-L)
- 1360-0567
- OpenAlex
- W1979539006
- Cited by
- 33
- References
- 23
- Citations by year
- 2025: 1 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 1 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 1 · 2015: 2 · 2014: 3 · 2013: 1 · 2012: 4
- FWCI
- 2.59
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Mental Health (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Digital Mental Health Interventions
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Mental Health Treatment and Access
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
- Keywords
- self-help books, depression, mixed anxiety-depressive disorder, cognitive behavioral therapy, readability, book popularity, NICE guidelines
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