The Blame Game: How To Recover from the World’s Oldest Addiction

First-time author Murphy presents an intriguing theory that all types of pain, illness, and hardships in life are caused by our collective addiction to blame. Whether blaming oneself or others, people enter a victim cycle, resulting in chronic pain, autoimmune diseases, anxiety, depression, and a myriad of other health issues. While his theory is thought-provoking, the solution appears to be a miracle cure-all that neglects to acknowledge the role of privilege, racial disparities, and trauma. The author asserts that people are cocreators of their problems and the only solution is self-honesty. He references sexual abuse, physical abuse, and traumatic medical issues and the suggestion that survivors may have contributed to their own trauma could have a serious impact on a reader’s well-being. He criticizes therapists and other medical professionals throughout the book, and his findings are not backed by science, but based entirely on his own experiences as a life coach. Yes, stress can have profound negative effects on one’s body, but it seems too outlandish to say that simply being more honest with oneself will cure everything.