Self-help.

Full disclosure: I hate self-help books. I do. I'll admit it. I kind of believe that they are out there on the market just to make us feel bad about ourselves and buy more self-help books.

I have nothing against trying to improve yourself, mind you -- I just don't think Dr. Phil can show you the way to do so in a book written for a general audience.

Salon.com has an interview with Jennifer Niesslein, one of the editors of the brilliant Brain, Child magazine. She's just written a book, "Practically Perfect in Every Way: My Misadventures Through the World of Self-Help and Back." The book is all about her experiment in trying to use self-help books and techniques to improve her life.

In the interview, she admits to having issues with sleepwalking and panic attacks during this time of her life and is asked if the self-help might have influenced these problems. She says this:

"These books say you'll have all this knowledge, you'll be empowered, you'll be the master of your destiny. But the flip side of that is that you become acutely aware of all the burdens that you have, too, and your responsibilities. You're responsible for your financial destiny, and especially according to the folks [I was reading], women are responsible for what's going on in their relationships."

Interesting stuff. I'm definitely putting this one on my list.