Life changing!
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I hate self help books, but this is completely different. It changed my life, recognising the thought processes at the start of the book was like someone switching on a light.
I hate those self help books which analyse why you do this that or the other, but this was totally different, focused, direct, and to the point. Doesn't dwell on why you are depressed etc, but tackles it with written exercises.
Cannot recommend it enough, it is a FANTASTIC, LIFE CHANGING book
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Best Cognitive Therapy Book for Mood Disorders
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"The Feeling Good Handbook" is has the perfect cognitive therapy approach to helping people control depressive and anxious thoughts through a cognitive-behavioural approach to controlling mental distortions and the emotions generated by our mental filters.
When you feel overwhelmed by depression or anxiety, the worst feeling is that you are no longer in control of your thoughts - that your thoughts are running wild. If you have felt like that then Dr. Burns can help you regain control with a practical strategy. I like this book and also recommend "Mind Over Mood," which reinforces many ideas covered by Dr. Burns. If you have to choose between the two books, I recommend Dr. Burns because he allows you to take inventory of your thoughts with practical exercises.
It's the book that helped me when I was depressed. I also read a great novel recently called "Nexus: A Neo Novel." It offers self help advice on depression interwoven within the authentic journey of Logan Andrews - a journalist suffering from panic attacks and depression. He attempted suicide and through his journey to a spiritual retreat he tries to recover his sense of hope - many psychological and spiritual insights are woven into the story. I think it's based on real life experiences.
The good news is that depression and anxiety can be managed, and we have books out there to help and inspire us.
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Totally helpful
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Dr. Burns offers an excellent cognitive therapy approach to overcoming depression and anxiety. The book allows you take an inventory of your cognitive distortions that creative a lot of your feelings of hopelessness, sadness and dejection. By taking an inventory of your thoughts, you can learn to stop them and Dr. Burns show you how. This is one of the best books to help a person feel better. I also suggest that you get a copy of the novel "Nexus" by Deborah Morrison and Arvind Singh. It gives insights into depression from a psychological and spiritual perspective from the journey of the main character, Logan Andrews.
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Wonderful, I recommend it to anyone
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I went through cognitive therapy in late eighties when a series of miscarriages tipped me over into depression, not experienced so badly since being bullied at school, and the aftermath. I felt a "failure" all over again. I was lucky enough to get one to one therapy through Oxford University Dept of Psychology, but this book plus the Feeling Good therapy guide was required reading, and exercises set from it each week. For an intelligent person not able to get hands on therapy, the books alone would go a long way to help. But don't skip bits, take it very seriously, its a professional book, although seemingly written in a friendly, self-help formatt. I was told to re-read it frequently, which I do, to keep depression at bay. Like alcoholism, it can reoccur at intervals, but I always get out of it with this book. Also great at dealing with life's problems for anyone not seriously depressed, but needing to understand themselves, and cope with other people and everyday life.
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A wonderful book
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This book is written in an extremely friendly and informative manner. The exercises are very practical and relatively easy to follow. It is a self-help book which actually gives you concrete things that you can do which can change your life and the way that you feel. One thing that I will say though, is that this book contains more of the author's own philosophical views than most other cognitive therapy authors seem to allow themselves to express. Some very healthy but also very personal 'attitudes' are clearly visible in the text but if you share the beliefs or are convinced by them then this is not a problem. I can see that it is a wonderful, life changing book but at the same time it was not the one for me because I fall into the category of people who benefit most from 1-1 therapy rather than just 'bibliotherapy'. I was guided to this decision by the book itself! The best thing about this book, actually, is that it is very honest and based properly on science and research (which D.Burns constantly refers to) and which, believe it or not, has been proved to work for many people. You really do feel in the hands of an expert and the fact that it is an honest expert who tells you when you have a better chance from seeking help elsewhere makes him all the more trustworthy!
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