Self-help or self-improvement is a self-guided improvement —economically, intellectually, or emotionally—often with a substantial psychological basis. When engaged in self-help, people often use publicly available information or support groups, on the Internet as well as in person, where people in similar situations join together.

Self-help, in the sense of a legal doctrine, refers to individuals' implementation of their rights without resorting to legal writ or consultation of higher authority, as where a financial institution repossesses a car on which they hold both the title and a defaulted note. Individuals resort to self-help when they retrieve property found under the unauthorized control of another person, or ...