self-help

[ self-help, self- ]

noun

1. the act of providing for or helping or the ability to provide for or help oneself without assistance from others.
2. Law. the act or right of remedying a wrong, without resorting to legal proceedings.
3. the acquiring of information or the solving of one's problems, especially those of a psychological nature, without the direct supervision of professionals or experts, as by independent reading or by joining or forming lay groups that are devoted to one's interests or goals.

adjective

1. of or relating to a book, article, home study course, or the like, offering an individual information or counseling intended to be personally beneficial or profitable:

   self-help books on overcoming shyness.

self-help

noun

1. the act or state of providing the means to help oneself without relying on the assistance of others
2. 1. the practice of solving one's problems by joining or forming a group designed to help those suffering from a particular problem
   2. ( as modifier )

      a self-help group

Other Words From

• self-helper noun
• self-helpful self-helping adjective
• self-helpful·ness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of self-help¹

First recorded in 1825–35

Example Sentences

Palmer is trying to share more of that story with her new book, a memoir/self-help hybrid, “Master of Me: The Secret to Controlling Your Narrative.”

From Los Angeles Times

I devour a lot of self-help and self-improvement books, and many preach about the dangers of what happens when you give up.

From Los Angeles Times

But he eventually started attending self-help groups, recovery meetings and anger management classes.

From Los Angeles Times

"Martin has never been the most poetically complex of lyricists," added The Telegraph's Neil McCormick, but "does the world really need" songs that sound "like Instagram self-help slogans?"

From BBC

Orison Swett Marden, a self-help author and editor of Success magazine, and Elbert Hubbard, the flamboyant “Sage of East Aurora,” were two of the many popular writers to address the subject.

From Salon