The study, as noted by the BBC, says Rom Coms promote unrealistic expectations in their viewers. The research behind this conclusion involved "100 student volunteers [who] were asked to watch the 2001 romantic comedy Serendipity, while a further 100 watched a David Lynch drama." First off, 200 students is a pretty small sample, and secondly, a David Lynch drama will seriously fuck with your head. It's not just a regular non-rom-com. It's usually a twisted, terrifying ride through the deepest recesses of the psyche and the soul.

One of the researchers who worked on the study tells the BBC, "The problem is that while most of us know that the idea of a perfect relationship is unrealistic, some of us are still more influenced by media portrayals than we realize." I'm sure that's true to an extent, but what's telling is that the research participants were all college students. Usually people grow out of expecting their love lives to mimic a Julia Roberts movie by age 24 or so. Or they eventually buy Disney Princess wedding dresses.

The Notting Hill Effect: How Romantic Comedies Can Harm Your Love Life [Daily Mail]
Rom-coms 'Spoil Your Love Life' [BBC]

If you're a desperate person reading these books as a panacea, as Book Slut's Jessa Crispin points out in the Smart Set, these tomes can be quite dangerous. She reviews two self-help books —The Passion Test: The Effortless Path to Discovering Your Destiny by Janet and Chris Attwood, and Stuck: Why We Can’t (or Won’t) Move On by Anneli Rufus — and finds them potentially devastating. "The first thing I recommend to someone shaking in the wake of a tragedy, or feeling stuck in their lives, is throw out these self-help books," Crispin writes. "They fill your head with lies and make it harder to move on. Recovery, however, is different for everyone, and unfortunately, the next step is up to you."

Ultimately yes, the onus is on an individual to help his or herself deal with any situation. But honestly, even after major traumas, many people have a strong enough sense of self to read advice from strangers and not fall for every piece of it hook, line, and sinker. It's a pretty pessimistic view of the intelligence of self-help readers to assume that they believe every bit of crap they're sold.

Many commenters at Jezebel have admitted sheepishly to being helped by He's Just Not That Into You, and as a teenager I took solace in Reviving Ophelia: Helping You to Understand and Cope with Your Teenage Daughter. Though it's geared towards the parents of teenagers, reading the anecdotal experiences of other teenage girls and methods of coping definitely helped me feel less alone. And if you're still embarrassed about it remember this: in When Harry Met Sally, Harry and Sally become bffs and then get married and have ten thousand babies after reuniting in the self-help aisle of a book store. If Nora Ephron says it's ok, that's good enough for us.

Jessica Simpson Confesses Her Love of Self-Help Books [People]
Help Wanted [The Smart Set]