I picked up the book at the local library on a whim. I was horrified by it. The book struck me as evil, stupid, and cruel.

Evil -- the book states that those who experience ill fortune are responsible for their own ill fortune.

So, all those women in Sudan, who, right now, are being raped and made homeless by invaders. Well, it's their own darn fault, and we don't have to worry about them.

People starving in famines ... children being kidnapped into sex slavery ... people killed in earthquakes, or by disease -- again, it's their own choice, their own fault.

This philosophy is sick and cruel.

It is also stupid. Ms. Hay produces not one iota of evidence to support anything she says.

Yes, readers here claim that Ms. Hay's writings have changed their lives, but if you go to a St. Jude website, you will see an equal number of enthusiastic posts claiming that St. Jude performed miracles that changed lives. If you go to the shrine of a Hindu idol, you will hear testimonials that the Hindu idol changed lives for the better...

In other words, there are numerous people willing to testify to any number of belief systems or modes of behavior.

What separates these testimonials from real evidence?

A little ritual called "The Scientific Method."

Let's take those women in Sudan. If the women in Sudan being terrorized by invaders were to repeat, everyday, some Louise Hay style affirmation, like, oh, say, "My farm is not being invaded today; I am not going to get raped today; my husband will not be murdered before my eyes today," would that deflect the invaders?

I don't think so.

If Hay thinks so, let her travel to people in real need and test her methods out, rather than dispensing her "wisdom" to rich denizens of Malibu.

Hay claims that her own life story is proof of her method. She recounts her life story, and it *disproves* her method.

Hay was negative and her life was miserable. Then, because she was good looking, as she herself reports, she was able to earn a living as a model, and attract a rich husband. Presto changeo, everything in her life got better. Not because she practiced "affirmations," she didn't. But because she was able to market her good looks and marry a well-to-do man.

The low point of this book's inanity is the appendix at the end that claims that diseases are caused by given attitudes, and that if people repeat affirmations, their disease will go away.

So, AIDS is not caused by a virus, but by low self esteem. If people will just think better about themselves, their AIDS will disappear.

No need to worry about condoms, or safe sex, or anything. Just maintain a positive attitude, and condoms aren't necessary.

Such a lie is nothing short of grotesque. No, really, it is murderous.

Hay's brutal insistence on blaming persons not as fortunate as herself for their suffering is one of the most heinous things I've ever encountered in any book.

In reading this book, though, I learned at least one important source for the vicious New Age phrase, "You give yourself breast cancer."

There must be something highly appealing in this book or else it would not have racked up so many positive reviews on Amazon, and Hay would not be the very, very wealthy woman she is today.

What that positive feature is is totally beyond me.


DISCOVER THE REAL YOU!   April 23, 2001
 120 out of 157 found this review helpful

"You Can Heal Your Life" is a beautifully written and illustrated book dealing with self-discovery. It is a stepping stone in finding the real person you are and exploring ways that will lead to a more peaceful and happy life. Often, we are our own worst enemies with imaginary fears of what the future will bring, or we are dwellers of our past mistakes, regrets and misgivings. The importance of discovering and accepting our true self for who we really are, and the search for a more fulfilling life, are explored among the pages of this book.

Some of the words here are very much similar to Buddhist Philosophies. It is a known fact that before we can start anew, we must first rid ourself of all negative emotions and habits, more commonly known in this day and age as, "getting rid of the excess baggage." This is a wonderful self-help book that will lead you on a path of positive thinking and leave the reader with the understanding no one is perfect, we all have faults, but we can still feel good about ourselves.

If you are interested in exploring more fully the world of peace, contentment and happiness, I also recommend reading , "Awakening the Buddha Within" by Lama Surya Das and "Healing Society" by Dr. Seung-Heun Lee. Both are excellent books and a realistic learning adventure in self-discovery.


Sadly lacking, a waste of my time.   December 15, 2002
 86 out of 147 found this review helpful

This book does a great disservice to many people with genuine PHYSICAL illnesses. To say that the probable cause of AIDS is, "Feeling defenseless and hopeless. Nobody cares. A strong belief in not being good enough. Denial of the self. Sexual guilt'" or that the probable cause of Migraines is, "Dislike of being driven. Resisting the flow of life. Sexual fears," is beyond the bounds of good sense. Hay certainly has a right to express her beliefs. What concerns me is that people will see her as an expert because she's a published author, and not seek necessary medical care. I'm all for good, valid complementary therapies. Hay, however, would have us believe that the cause of all illness is psychological/spiritual in nature. Her complete failure to acknowledge actual physical conditions renders this book virtually useless. It lacks reasonable medical foundation, and essentially blames us for our pain. I'd say take this book not with a grain of salt, but with an entire salt block.


The Psychological Side of Healing   November 4, 2008
 70 out of 71 found this review helpful

You Can Heal Your Life (Gift Edition) is all about using your thoughts to fix the problems in your life. What kind of problems? Well, the book specifically looks into healing some pretty major life areas: relationships, work, success, prosperity, and your body. But wait a minute, did I say the book is using thoughts to heal your body? What's up with that? Is that even possible? Well, after reading this book, I think in many cases, yes, it is possible.

While I think it is the way to go to treat things such as an acute appendicitis with surgery, fractures with a cast, and pneumonia with antibiotics, there are many conditions where conventional medicine blatently falls short. Of course I'm talking about health problems such as migraines, backaches, or stomach ulcers- you know, those kinds of nagging disorders where we all know that stress/mental processes DO play a role. But while few would argue that psychological factors can cause an ulcer, what about more serious conditions such as, say, arthritis?

Well it may not be too far fetched. Consider this. One study of 1,198 subjects found that only 56% of men with SEVERE knee arthritis had any pain (Lawrence 1966). Another study X-rayed 84 seventy-nine year-olds and 76 eighty-five year-olds and found that only 43% of them with SEVERE knee arthritis had any pain complaints (Bagge 1991). There are plenty more examples in the scientific literature, but obviously there two alone show us that there is NO clear-cut association between severe knee arthritis and pain.

ON THE OTHER HAND, when one looks at the relationship between psychological variables and knee arthritis, one does see a clear association. For instance, one study looked at 65 patients (ages 55 to 87) with hip and/or knee arthritis. X-rays, pain, depression levels, anxiety levels, coping styles, and functional impairment were all assessed. The findings? Researchers discovered that the severity of one's arthritis showed little relationship to pain, BUT, psychological variables were strong predictors of who had pain and how impaired they were (Summers 1988).

Along the same lines, Salaffi examined 61 women (ages 51-79) with knee arthritis. Here again, results showed that how disabled someone was, was more related to psychological variables than how bad their knee looked on an X-ray film. Interestingly, both anxiety and depression WERE important predictors of pain (Salaffi 1991). Any one conducting a literature review on Medline will find more such examples IF you're looking for them. While I used knee arthritis as an example, there are MANY more studies on other health problems with similar findings.

All of this should be causing us to raise an eyebrow. The literature is telling us that it is far from being clear cut that things like bad knee arthritis ALWAYS mean pain. And the research is also giving us clues that the mind and our thought processes definitely play a role. So the question now becomes, if bad thought patterns can play a role in health problems such as arthritis, why not in other diseases such as cancer, as the book suggests?

You be the judge. I found that the main value in this book was getting me to look at how our thinking does influence the functioning of our bodies- as well as our life in general. Note that I'm NOT saying that you can think yourself well all the time either.

Remember that while Louise Hay did change her thought patterns and was cured of cancer, she has also written that she used other alternative treatments as well, such as foot reflexology and colon therapy (Chapter 16). Therefore, my advice is to look at ALL the options when dealing with a health problem, one MAJOR one being changing your mental patterns (which is the what the book does a nice job of addressing). And for this reason, I can recommend this book to anyone who needs physical healing or otherwise. Other alternative healing books of interest include The Divided Mind: The Epidemic of Mindbody Disorders and The 5-Minute Plantar Fasciitis Solution. Thank you Louise Hay!