WOMEN & RISK: How to Master Your Fears and Do What You Never Thought You Could Do

An exploration of the causes of and cures for learned helplessness discusses the inability of some women to perform simple tasks out of fear and offers a diagnostic quiz, examples, exercises, and anecdotes. Tour.

A self-help book that, although replete with lists, explores somewhat broader reaches than the usual ``eight steps to a new you.'' Women (and men) are heavily burdened already with syndromes and symptoms that have catchy names--the ``Cinderella Complex,'' the ``Child Within,'' etc. Here's another: ``Learned Helplessness,'' or ``LH'' for short--a pattern of behavior first identified in animal experiments. Marone (How to Father a Successful Daughter, 1987), who runs workshops in how to overcome LH, defines it as believing that ``our actions do not affect the final outcome of events.'' It apparently mostly afflicts women, who, Marone asserts, are even today perceived as frail and unable to fend for themselves. To conquer the debilitating effects of helplessness, women, the author says, need to learn ``mastery behavior,'' a take-charge attitude most often seen in successful males. Then follows a ``Six-Step Plan for Mastery,'' with advice and observations borrowed from many, not always acknowledged, sources. Although Marone advocates such clich‚s as lists on the refrigerator door and springs an occasional painful phrase (``cheekbones to die for''), to her credit she also recommends resources like meditation and active visualization as options for unlearning helplessness. And she does not underestimate how difficult such a transition can be. Success stories from Marone's students and her own life give this how-to-change-your-life volume a pleasingly upbeat tone. -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.