I also think one of the errors these groups/programs make is attributing all suffering to the individual, and refusing to acknowledge real, tangible limitations. Again, there often are actions the individual can take to change their situation, but it doesn't make sense to view the individual as an isolated entity, separate from their environment and society.
David Smail's website [
www.davidsmail.info], his writing style is academic (then again so is mine.... :)) but worth the effort to understand. This page is a good summary [
www.davidsmail.info]
Quote: "What ‘clinical experience’ teaches, in my view, is that we are as individuals not freely-choosing originators of action, but rather the hosts of influences which impinge upon us or flow through us. There is no faculty of pure ‘will power’ upon which we can call in times of trouble, and what we are able to do about adverse circumstances will depend upon the powers that are or have been available to us in the outside world. The almost irresistible feeling of free choice and moral independence that subjectively accompanies our everyday activity is an illusion that stems from our singular embodiment (that is to say, we can only be directly aware of what is happening physically and psychologically inside us, and so we accord it undue causal prominence). This illusion is endlessly exploited by those who benefit most from it. Individual blame, for example, finds a ready reception in the tender conscience cocked and primed to receive it."
I also recommend Barbara Ehrenreich's book "Bright-Sided" [
www.barbaraehrenreich.com]