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Elisabeth Nolan's Reviews > The Mountain Is You: Transforming Self-Sabotage Into Self-Mastery
The Mountain Is You: Transforming Self-Sabotage Into Self-Mastery
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I have a bachelor degree in psychology and i work with people living with eating disorders. I figured I'd pick up this book to help with certain patterns and behaviours I've noticed through my professional experiences. I was highly disappointed. It didn't help that I saw this book glorified on TikTok because it set my expectations way too high.
From what I've gathered online, Wiest is a writer and a poet. She seems to have no education or training on psychology or therapy (I couldn't find anything on that). I found that her facts were a little shaky and looking through her references, I could see why. There's 24 references in total for her whole book and very few are scientific articles. Some of it is from psycho-pop online articles and there's even one reference from a LinkedIn post. I believe she based most of her observations on experience, this is not to be diminished, but the book lacked scientific support.
Overall, the tools and strategies she gave were fine. I actually have a few pages with post-its on them. There's some parts of the book that felt empty as if the words were to fill the chapter instead of giving substance. The first two parts were the most helpful to understand self-sabotage and learn about unhealthy patterns of behaviours. The rest was a little repetitive and more inspirational than resourceful.
I won't recommend this book to people who go through self-sabotage tendencies. I believe that good old therapy works best and that there exists other self-help books that are way more scientifically approved. I recommend The Happiness Trap by Dr. Harris to change your perspective on life instead of this one.
Also, there's mentions encouraging diet culture when it is in no way relating to the subject. Eating fast food is not "self-sabotage". It can be part of a balanced diet when you work on your perspective over food and then adjust your behaviours to fulfill your needs (biological and emotional).
From what I've gathered online, Wiest is a writer and a poet. She seems to have no education or training on psychology or therapy (I couldn't find anything on that). I found that her facts were a little shaky and looking through her references, I could see why. There's 24 references in total for her whole book and very few are scientific articles. Some of it is from psycho-pop online articles and there's even one reference from a LinkedIn post. I believe she based most of her observations on experience, this is not to be diminished, but the book lacked scientific support.
Overall, the tools and strategies she gave were fine. I actually have a few pages with post-its on them. There's some parts of the book that felt empty as if the words were to fill the chapter instead of giving substance. The first two parts were the most helpful to understand self-sabotage and learn about unhealthy patterns of behaviours. The rest was a little repetitive and more inspirational than resourceful.
I won't recommend this book to people who go through self-sabotage tendencies. I believe that good old therapy works best and that there exists other self-help books that are way more scientifically approved. I recommend The Happiness Trap by Dr. Harris to change your perspective on life instead of this one.
Also, there's mentions encouraging diet culture when it is in no way relating to the subject. Eating fast food is not "self-sabotage". It can be part of a balanced diet when you work on your perspective over food and then adjust your behaviours to fulfill your needs (biological and emotional).
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Reading Progress
November 21, 2021
– Shelved
May 21, 2022
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Started Reading
May 28, 2022
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Finished Reading
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Oana
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rated it 2 stars
Nov 09, 2022 02:22PM
The best review!
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An accurate evaluation. She’s mostly speaking through experience rather than detailed study and data.
Hi! Do you have a book recommendation that is about self sabotaging?
Michelle wrote: "Hi! Do you have a book recommendation that is about self sabotaging?"Not at the moment, sorry
Thanks for giving this review and for giving a good alternative to it. I will look at this one's reviews next. Thanks!
Hi Elisabeth! As someone who has recovered from an ED, I wanted to reply to your comment. I went through an outpatient program to recover, and the biggest help to me was the therapy I received. My therapist helped me see through my own thoughts and feelings. She helped me not only with my eating disorder, but also my crippling anxiety and chronic depression that existed before my eating disorder, but other therapists weren't as effective. So as a survivor, thank you for existing.The second biggest help was the book Life Without Ed by Jenni Shaefer. My therapist recommended it and it honestly saved my life. I felt so seen and everything in it just made so much sense to me. And the idea of personifying the ED can be applied to all other troubling voices in our heads (anxiety, depression, perfectionism, etc). It made it easier to talk back to Ed and find my own voice. I'd recommend you share it with others in recovery!
TLDR: As someone who's been through years of therapy, this book was really disappointing. I definitely learned and grew more from therapy. But I'm curious which parts you bookmarked!
Hi! Can you recommend a book that helps to improve habits. Like Kaizen.
