Self-help medical advice was popular in the 1930s, too.

CMAJ · 1997

Where this comes from

Abstract

Self-help books proliferate today, but the concept of helping oneself in health matters is certainly not a modern phenomenon, Dr. Mark Clarfield notes. He recently studied a self-help booklet from 1936, What to do until the doctor comes, in which he found not only some sound advice but also some harmless suggestions, useless treatments and dangerous remedies.