4 things pop psychology gets wrong

From the pages of pop psychology itself...
each of these opinions is from a person selling a book...

but before we accept common knowledge as advice maybe it's worth contemplating...

-----------------------------
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/in-practice/201303/4-things-pop-psychology-gets-wrong
<snip>

Visualizing Having Achieved Your Goals.
"Many self-help books advise people that to achieve their goals they should vividly imagine that they already have what they want to achieve. Actually, research has found that imagining you already have achieved a goal weakens your motivation to work towards it because when you feel like you already have something it's natural to feel like nothing more needs to be done.
<snip>

Personal Empowerment.

"Magazines and talk shows love to discuss ways in which we can feel personally empowered. But true personal empowerment is not about having a feeling, it's about having a real impact on our environment and the people in it. Studies show that acquiring real personal empowerment involves a process of taking actions that demonstrate real world results.

<snip>

Change Happens When You're Ready
We often hear "Change will happen when you're ready". In my more than 20 years of experience, I've come to understand that "ready"--or the tipping point of change--often means 'when the consequences of our behavior outweigh the value of that behavior to us'.

<snip>

Positive Thinking
"Positive thinking can be helpful, but when not balanced by a realistic assessment of a person's situation, it can also be harmful. I've seen the harm it's done to people who live with chronic pain or illness. When they're repeatedly told that if they'd just think positively, they'd get better, they then blame themselves when that fails to happen.

<snip/more>