--- title: Yes, I Suck: Self-Help Through Negative Thinking description: Contrary to the "love yourself" message propounded by countless self-help books, a new study suggests that for people with low self-esteem, positive thinking hurts more than it helps canonical: https://time.com/archive/6688974/yes-i-suck-self-help-through-negative-thinking/ author: John Cloud article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2009-07-08T04:00:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-27T17:01:25.039Z article:section: Health og:title: Yes, I Suck: Self-Help Through Negative Thinking og:description: Contrary to the "love yourself" message propounded by countless self-help books, a new study suggests that for people with low self-esteem, positive thinking hurts more than it helps og:url: https://time.com/archive/6688974/yes-i-suck-self-help-through-negative-thinking/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9b10251f2b80b72d/698a47a6929fad3f32bfafab/360_lpositive_0727.jpg?branch=production&width=750&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: 360_lpositive_0727.jpg og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Yes, I Suck: Self-Help Through Negative Thinking twitter:description: Contrary to the "love yourself" message propounded by countless self-help books, a new study suggests that for people with low self-esteem, positive thinking hurts more than it helps twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9b10251f2b80b72d/698a47a6929fad3f32bfafab/360_lpositive_0727.jpg?branch=production&width=750&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Health](/section/health/) # Yes, I Suck: Self-Help Through Negative Thinking by [John Cloud](https://time.com/author/john-cloud/) Jul 8, 2009 4:00 AM UTC  Photo-illustration by Reena de la Rosa for TIME by [John Cloud](https://time.com/author/john-cloud/) Jul 8, 2009 4:00 AM UTC The $11 billion self-help industry is built on the idea that you should turn negative thoughts like “I never do anything right” into positive ones like “I can succeed.” But was Norman Vincent Peale right? Is there power in positive thinking? Researchers in Canada just published a study in the journal Psychological Science that says trying to get people to think more positively can actually have the opposite effect: it can simply highlight how unhappy they are. The study’s authors, Joanne Wood and John Lee of the University of Waterloo and Elaine Perunovic of the University of New Brunswick, begin by citing older research showing that when people get feedback they believe is overly positive, they actually feel worse, not better. If you tell your dim friend that he has the potential of an Einstein, you’re just underlining his faults. In one 1990s experiment, a team including psychologist Joel Cooper of Princeton asked participants to write essays opposing funding for the disabled. When the essayists were later praised for their compassion, they felt even worse about what they had written. In this experiment, Wood, Lee and Perunovic measured 68 students’ self-esteem. The participants were then asked to write down their thoughts and feelings for four minutes. Every 15 seconds, one group of students heard a bell. When it rang, they were supposed to tell themselves, “I am lovable.” Those with low self-esteem didn’t feel better after the forced self-affirmation. In fact, their moods turned significantly darker than those of members of the control group, who weren’t prodded to think positive thoughts. The paper provides support for newer forms of psychotherapy that urge people to accept their negative thoughts and feelings rather than fight them. In the fighting, we not only often fail but can make things worse. Meditation techniques, in contrast, can teach people to put their shortcomings into a larger, more realistic perspective. Call it the power of negative thinking. 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