Author: Norman Vincent Peale · Published: 1952 · Genre: Self-Help, Christian Living
The Power of Positive Thinking can be genuinely encouraging, and its biggest strength is its warm conviction that people can change how they meet their troubles. Its biggest weakness is that it rests on unverifiable anecdotes and promises that faith and positive thoughts can overcome almost anything, a message many mental-health professionals have called harmful. It is worth reading mainly for Christian readers looking for inspiration, or for anyone studying the history of American self-help.
What it’s about
Peale was the longtime minister of Marble Collegiate Church in New York City, and his book is as much a Christian devotional as a psychology manual. Its argument is that confidence, peace and success come from replacing negative thoughts with faith-filled positive ones and from drawing on God’s power through prayer.
Chapters cover believing in yourself, finding a peaceful mind, keeping your energy up, using prayer power, expecting the best, breaking the worry habit and using faith in healing. The techniques are concrete: repeat a Bible verse affirming that you can do all things through Christ, picture yourself succeeding, empty your mind of fears and resentments, send short silent prayers toward the people around you, and replace worried thoughts with statements of trust. Almost every point is illustrated with a story about a businessman, salesman, athlete or troubled parishioner who turned his life around.
The book stayed on the New York Times bestseller list for 186 weeks, and it shaped American self-help, motivational speaking and later preachers such as Joel Osteen.
What’s great
- Encouragement. For a discouraged reader, the tone is kind and hopeful, and Peale’s emphasis on calming the mind, slowing down and resting has practical value.
- Some techniques survive in modest form. Picturing a task going well, noticing and replacing habitual negative thoughts, and setting aside time for quiet reflection resemble tools used in sports psychology and therapy, though Peale presents them far more confidently.
- Faith in context. Readers who share Peale’s Christianity will find the scriptural framing natural. And he was not hostile to psychiatry: in 1937 he opened a clinic with the psychoanalyst Smiley Blanton that combined pastoral care with psychiatric treatment.
The controversy
The criticism began early. The psychiatrist R.C. Murphy attacked Peale’s philosophy in The Nation in 1955, and the psychologist Albert Ellis later said he had treated people who suffered breakdowns after following Peale’s teachings. Critics also objected to the anecdotes, which are mostly unnamed and impossible to check. Theologians joined in: Reinhold Niebuhr called the movement a new cult, and Bishop G. Bromley Oxnam said it turned Christianity into a cult of success.
The deeper problem is the idea that negative thoughts should simply be pushed out. Telling people that faith and the right attitude will solve their problems can leave those with depression or anxiety feeling they have failed, and it may delay real treatment. Research also suggests affirmations can backfire. A 2009 study led by the psychologist Joanne Wood found that people with low self-esteem felt worse after repeating a positive statement about themselves. Martin Seligman, a founder of positive psychology, has distinguished his evidence-based field from positive thinking of this kind.
Who should read it
Read it if you are a Christian reader looking for encouragement, or a student of American culture tracing where modern self-help came from. If you are struggling with your mental health, look first to evidence-based treatment.
Rating: 2.5/5
Image credits — Featured image: Photo by Pramod Tiwari on Pexels. In-article images: Image by Richardfalk2 via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.
