The false hope syndrome: unrealistic expectations of self-change

People appear to behave paradoxically, by persisting in repeated self-chang e attempts despite previous failures. It is argued, though, that self-chang e attempts provide some initial rewards even when unsuccessful. Feelings of control and optimism often accompany the early stages of self-modification efforts, in addition, unrealistic expectations concerning the ease, speed, likely degree of change, and presumed benefits of changing may overwhelm t he knowledge of one's prior failures. It is thus important to learn to dist inguish between potentially feasible and impossible self-change goals in or der to avoid overconfidence and false hopes leading to eventual failure and distress.