For an alternative view on this industry, you could do worse than read
Sham: How the Self-Help Movement Made America Helpless
Editorial Review from Booklist
............Salerno keeps both camps in mind as he dissects the checkered--especially in terms of qualifications--careers of SHAM stars John Gray, Dr. Laura, Marianne Williamson, Suze Orman, and in their own chapters, Dr. Phil McGraw and Tony Robbins, both creators of lucrative SHAM empires by copycatting lesser entrepreneurs' wares.............