Is Self-Help Actually Helping Us Anymore?

Episode 38 of the Growth through Friendship podcast, hosted by Juliet Hollingsworth and Angela Buckley, titled "Is Self-Help Actually Helping Us Anymore?" was published on September 17, 2025 and runs 53 minutes.

September 17, 2025 ·53m · Growth through Friendship

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Summary

In this vulnerable and refreshingly honest episode of Growth Through Friendship, Juliet and Angela question the booming self-help industry—how we got here, what it's giving us, and what it might be quietly taking away. From TikTok therapy tips to bestselling mindset books, they unpack the rise (and grip) of the self-help movement and ask: are we really helping ourselves, or just consuming endless content in the hope of fixing something?Together, they explore the tension between personal development and perfectionism, diving into how self-help can empower, but also overwhelm. They reflect on their own journeys with early self-help books (including classics like Who Moved My Cheese?, The Chimp Paradox, and breath work studies), and how the shift from Yellow Pages hypnotherapists to algorithm-driven advice has changed the game entirely.Juliet shares insights from her hypnotherapy and therapy practice, while Angela opens up about feeling stuck between sharing meaningful content and the ethics of offering advice online. They also discuss the difference between social media validation and real therapeutic progress, the importance of critical thinking, and why one-on-one therapy still holds a depth that books and reels can’t replicate.Whether you’re deep into your healing era or quietly sick of trying to fix yourself, this episode invites you to pause, reflect, and maybe even let yourself just be for a while.

Episode Description

In this vulnerable and refreshingly honest episode of Growth Through Friendship, Juliet and Angela question the booming self-help industry—how we got here, what it's giving us, and what it might be quietly taking away. From TikTok therapy tips to bestselling mindset books, they unpack the rise (and grip) of the self-help movement and ask: are we really helping ourselves, or just consuming endless content in the hope of fixing something?

Together, they explore the tension between personal development and perfectionism, diving into how self-help can empower, but also overwhelm. They reflect on their own journeys with early self-help books (including classics like Who Moved My Cheese?, The Chimp Paradox, and breath work studies), and how the shift from Yellow Pages hypnotherapists to algorithm-driven advice has changed the game entirely.

Juliet shares insights from her hypnotherapy and therapy practice, while Angela opens up about feeling stuck between sharing meaningful content and the ethics of offering advice online. They also discuss the difference between social media validation and real therapeutic progress, the importance of critical thinking, and why one-on-one therapy still holds a depth that books and reels can’t replicate.

Whether you’re deep into your healing era or quietly sick of trying to fix yourself, this episode invites you to pause, reflect, and maybe even let yourself just be for a while.