"[2] Kaminer also criticizes the lack of a free-forum for debate and reasoning within these groups, noting that those who disagree with the tenets of the organization are immediately branded "in denial", similar to the way a fundamentalist might characterize a free-thinker as a heretic.

"[4] She explains a two-step process used to write a popular self-help book: First, "Promote the prevailing preoccupation of the time" (either health or wealth), and then "Package platitudes about positive thinking, prayer or affirmation therapy as sure-fire, scientific techniques.

[6] Kaminer acknowledges that there are those who have real problems and receive benefit from groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous, but she also "picks apart the tenets of the recovery religion – for she sees striking parallels with religious fundamentalism.

"[10] At the time of the book's publication, Kaminer cited a statistic from industry sources asserting that ninety-six percent of the population in the United States were victims of codependency and warped family upbringing.

[12] Michiko Kakutani of The New York Times described the book as "a terrifically witty, intelligent and cogent assessment of the recovery movement and its implications for American society at large.

"[3] The Houston Chronicle called the book "smartly ironic," and noted that Kaminer "offered up the recovery movement with its penchant for self-help and public confession as a prime example of irrationality.

In his 2005 book, Sham: How The Self-Help Movement Made America Helpless, author Steve Salerno cites Kaminer while critiquing the effects of victimization on American culture.