Feeling Good, The New Mood Therapy - Treatment for Depression

Marina9

The Living Force
FOTCM Member
Hey guys! Well I wanted to share with you this new book I discovered, i've been reading it for a couple of days and found out it could be very helpful for anyone dealing with depression.

Here is a review I found out on the internet:

The good news is that anxiety, guilt, pessimism, procrastination, low self-esteem, and other "black holes" of depression can be cured without drugs. In Feeling Good, eminent psychiatrist, David D. Burns, M.D., outlines the remarkable, scientifically proven techniques that will immediately lift your spirits and help you develop a positive outlook on life. Now, in this updated edition, Dr. Burns adds an All-New Consumer′s Guide To Anti-depressant Drugs as well as a new introduction to help answer your questions about the many options available for treating depression.

- Recognise what causes your mood swings

- Nip negative feelings in the bud

- Deal with guilt

- Handle hostility and criticism

- Overcome addiction to love and approval

- Build self-esteem

- Feel good everyday

It reminded me a bit of Fear to the Abyss too. The good thing I find with this type of books is the useful tools they give you, like Aleta Edwards and her exercises, I do believe if we commit to working on them we could be able to see true changes. Also having this books along with a therapist may be the best option too.

Here is a conference from David Burns which I really enjoyed:


https://youtu.be/H1T5uMeYv9Q

I found the PDF of the book: http://islamiconlineuniversity.com/counseling/resources/David%20Burns%20-%20Feeling%20Good.pdf

But it can also be found on Amazon :D
 
Thank you Marina9, or people anxious it can be of great help. I will check the book.
 
The Feeling Good Handbook (by Dr Burns) is a drug-free psychiatry theory clinic in a home study, self-help format. It is all about learning to control your own moods without drugs. I cannot recommend the book highly enough, for any and everyone. It is one of those books you can open to any page for valuable insight on many, many subject in the human behavior/thinking/relationship/emotion arena.
 
I just watched this talk with David Burns, some really interesting ideas.

How to have good feelings, become happy and develop self-esteem ? - David D. Burns PHD

https://youtu.be/p6u3tT2NLEc

I found the PDF of the book: http://islamiconlineuniversity.com/counseling/resources/David%20Burns%20-%20Feeling%20Good.pdf

But it can also be found on Amazon :D

Thanks for the link Marina, I will have a read :)
 
I went through a bad depressive phase in my late 20s. In group therapy I realized that most people were there because they'd set a trap for themselves and they were depressed because they saw no way out of it. One was in a relationship with her married boss (she was in love with him; he'd never leave his wife and kids) and she feared losing her job if she broke up with him. Another was in a relationship with a disabled girl he no longer loved but couldn't bring himself to break up with her. I realized that 'chemical imbalance' was mostly myth, or that the chemical imbalance was the response, not the cause.

It took several years and a lot of hard work to reprogram my brain but better than a life on meds! The success rate for that alone was about the same as other treatments, and that is factoring in that depressed people tend to have trouble putting sustained effort into anything (which is why I see depression itself as a trap) About.com used to have a fantastic article about the bad mental habits a person needs to eliminate and iirc most of them were from that book.
 
987baz said:
I just watched this talk with David Burns, some really interesting ideas.

How to have good feelings, become happy and develop self-esteem ? - David D. Burns PHD

https://youtu.be/p6u3tT2NLEc

I found the PDF of the book: http://islamiconlineuniversity.com/counseling/resources/David%20Burns%20-%20Feeling%20Good.pdf

But it can also be found on Amazon :D

Thanks for the link Marina, I will have a read :)

Thanks for sharing the talk Baz. I think it was a pretty well summary of the book and the topics he addresses. One of the most important things, IMO, is that he doesn't just focus on the "feeling good" part right? He also says that negative emotions have a purpose, and well, all emotions do have a purpose of being. I sometimes fall in the "I'm okay" type of thing, when I'm certainly not okey.. haha, and then things just start accumulating and its way worse!

In a personal experience CBT therapy was one of the best things I found to help me deal with my triggers and urges to binge and purge. Also how to cope with my anxiety and depressive states I used to be in. The Socratic Dialogue that he talks about in that video you shared, is one of the greatest, most important tools in CBT. I used to do that with my therapist and by myself when narratives starting to pop up, alongside with other tools. IMO, what helps from CBT is the tools you get, to work on a daily basis.

CdeSouza said:
I went through a bad depressive phase in my late 20s. In group therapy I realized that most people were there because they'd set a trap for themselves and they were depressed because they saw no way out of it. One was in a relationship with her married boss (she was in love with him; he'd never leave his wife and kids) and she feared losing her job if she broke up with him. Another was in a relationship with a disabled girl he no longer loved but couldn't bring himself to break up with her. I realized that 'chemical imbalance' was mostly myth, or that the chemical imbalance was the response, not the cause.

It took several years and a lot of hard work to reprogram my brain but better than a life on meds! The success rate for that alone was about the same as other treatments, and that is factoring in that depressed people tend to have trouble putting sustained effort into anything (which is why I see depression itself as a trap) About.com used to have a fantastic article about the bad mental habits a person needs to eliminate and iirc most of them were from that book.

Yup, I agree with you in that CdeSouza. I used to hear that "chemical imbalance" thing over and over with other therapists, not my CBT, and when I said NO to antidepressants they kicked me out the therapy, "cause i was never going to overcome my issues without meds," or so they said.. It's sad cause from all the other girls I had therapy with in the group therapy sessions, you could see how numbed out they were from being on meds and not questioning the therapist or looking for information outside.. I am glad things worked for you without meds!! :flowers:

And yeesss! It's way better hehe, plus changing the diet, supplements, EE, yoga and all the other tools we get to learn from here, also help a lot :)
 
Thanks for sharing the talk Baz. I think it was a pretty well summary of the book and the topics he addresses. One of the most important things, IMO, is that he doesn't just focus on the "feeling good" part right? He also says that negative emotions have a purpose, and well, all emotions do have a purpose of being. I sometimes fall in the "I'm okay" type of thing, when I'm certainly not okey.. haha, and then things just start accumulating and its way worse!

In a personal experience CBT therapy was one of the best things I found to help me deal with my triggers and urges to binge and purge. Also how to cope with my anxiety and depressive states I used to be in. The Socratic Dialogue that he talks about in that video you shared, is one of the greatest, most important tools in CBT. I used to do that with my therapist and by myself when narratives starting to pop up, alongside with other tools. IMO, what helps from CBT is the tools you get, to work on a daily basis.

good to know, I am hoping it will help with my on again off again anxiety.

It certainly makes sense not to just focus on the "feeling good" emotions, but to identify the negative. From what I've seen/read so far, it's almost like countering the negative thoughts with a valid response. For example, the negative thought is: "I am not a good person" and the response is to look at yourself and see all the good you do. I know that's pretty simplistic, but the subconscious can be very intense and overbearing.

I see he has other books too, one which caught my eye is, Intimate Connections,which seems like it may be another good read.

In this breakthrough book, Dr. David Burns, M.D., author of the bestselling Feeling Good, applies the proven principles of Cognitive Therapy to eliminating the negative thinking and low self-esteem that causes loneliness and shyness. With sensible and sensitive advice, case histories, and revealing exercises, this step-by-step program shows you how to:

• Pinpoint and rid yourself of attitudes that keep you apart from others
• Master the techniques that make you feel and look more attractive
• Deal with people who give you the runaround
• Resist romantic temptations not in your best interest
• Develop fulfilling relationships . . . and more
 
Thank you, Marina9, for bringing this book to our attention. I purchased the book yesterday, and have now started reading it. The contents sound very promising! I've been struggling with signs of depression, fatigue, procrastination etc. most parts of my life, so I wasn't that surprised to have scored 36 points on the 'depression questionnaire' included in the book. This translates as 'moderate depression', but as he points out, there's nothing moderate about it. When you're happy and healthy, your score I supposed to be under 5!

So, I obviously have a lot of work to do to regarding this, and I'm hoping that this book will be of help. However, having read quite many similar books, which didn't help that much, I'm not yet convinced that this book will "do the trick", but I'll give it a chance :)
 
Aragorn said:
Thank you, Marina9, for bringing this book to our attention. I purchased the book yesterday, and have now started reading it. The contents sound very promising! I've been struggling with signs of depression, fatigue, procrastination etc. most parts of my life, so I wasn't that surprised to have scored 36 points on the 'depression questionnaire' included in the book. This translates as 'moderate depression', but as he points out, there's nothing moderate about it. When you're happy and healthy, your score I supposed to be under 5!

So, I obviously have a lot of work to do to regarding this, and I'm hoping that this book will be of help. However, having read quite many similar books, which didn't help that much, I'm not yet convinced that this book will "do the trick", but I'll give it a chance :)

I hope the book helps you Aragorn :hug:

I'm reading it for my anxiety rather than depression, but I think the same principles apply. For me it's very frustrating that the anxiety comes and goes, it seems to trigger when I am not so busy, so getting the cause/trigger will be helpful too (I'll be seeing my kinesiologist and another practitioner early next week). Because of this I think it has something to do with self worth and isolation/loneliness and there certainly is some negative thoughts in there pushing that idea.

I also resonated with one of the 10 distortions he talks about, called the fortune teller, seems I tend to spiral a bit and think/predict all these horrible scenarios. here's the 10 distortions.

“1.) ALL-OR-NOTHING THINKING: You see things in black-and-white categories. If your performance falls short of perfect, you see yourself as a total failure.

2.) OVERGENERALIZATION: You see a single negative event as a never-ending pattern of defeat.

3.) MENTAL FILTER: You pick out a single negative detail and dwell on it exclusively so that your vision of all reality becomes darkened, like the drop of ink that discolors the entire beaker of water.

4.) DISQUALIFYING THE POSITIVE: You reject positive experiences by insisting they “don’t count” for some reason or other. In this way you can maintain a negative belief that is contradicted by your everyday experiences.

5.) JUMPING TO CONCLUSIONS: You make a negative interpretation even though there are no definite facts that convincingly support your conclusion.

A.) MIND READING: You arbitrarily conclude that someone is reacting negatively to you, and you don’t bother to check this out.

B.) FORTUNE TELLING: You anticipate that things will turn out badly, and you feel convinced that your prediction is an already-established fact.


6.) MAGNIFICATION (CATASTROPHIZING) OR MINIMIZATION: You exaggerate the importance of things (such as your goof-up or someone else’s achievement), or you inappropriately shrink things until they appear tiny (your own desirable qualities or other fellow’s imperfections). This is also called the “binocular trick.”

7.) EMOTIONAL REASONING: You assume that your negative emotions necessarily reflect the way things really are: “I feel it, therefore it must be true.”

8.) SHOULD STATEMENTS: You try to motivate yourself with should and shouldn’t, as if you had to be whipped and punished before you could be expected to do anything. “Musts” and “oughts” are also offenders. The emotional consequences are guilt. When you direct should statements toward others, you feel anger, frustration, and resentment.

9.) LABELING AND MISLABELING: This is an extreme form of overgeneralization. Instead of describing your error, you attach a negative label to yourself. “I’m a loser.” When someone else’s behavior rubs you the wrong way, you attach a negative label to him” “He’s a damn louse.” Mislabeling involves describing an event with language that is highly colored and emotionally loaded.

10.) PERSONALIZATION: You see your self as the cause of some negative external event, which in fact you were not primarily responsible for.”

for anyone else who wants to have a look at the checklist this is it here http://www.drpaulsimpson.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Depression-Inventory.pdf it's called the Burns Depression checklist.
 
David Burns has been publishing in the self-help field for years and is another quality source of information for the person who is ready to make the effort to change his or her thinking into more functional doing.
While it appears to me that there are some fundamental principles that guide seekers to grow and change, it is often necessary to encounter these basics in more than one form and from more than one source over time in order for many people (me) to really hear what is being said.
 
Marina9 said:
Hey guys! Well I wanted to share with you this new book I discovered, i've been reading it for a couple of days and found out it could be very helpful for anyone dealing with depression.

Thanks Marina for the recommendation. I have recently started taking Anti depressants and Im wanting more each day to figure out how i can get off them. And it whole hearty is about thinking!! Will be getting this book Asap

987baz said:
I just watched this talk with David Burns, some really interesting ideas.

How to have good feelings, become happy and develop self-esteem ? - David D. Burns PHD

https://youtu.be/p6u3tT2NLEc

I found the PDF of the book: http://islamiconlineuniversity.com/counseling/resources/David%20Burns%20-%20Feeling%20Good.pdf

But it can also be found on Amazon :D

Thanks for the link Marina, I will have a read :)

Thanks for the link to the talk baz. He reminds me a little bit ab out what i read from dabrowksi and personality shaping. Either way it looks like a great resource to start dealing with my depression!! Again really appreciate to the resources!!
 
987baz said:
I also resonated with one of the 10 distortions he talks about, called the fortune teller, seems I tend to spiral a bit and think/predict all these horrible scenarios. here's the 10 distortions.

“1.) ALL-OR-NOTHING THINKING: You see things in black-and-white categories. If your performance falls short of perfect, you see yourself as a total failure.

2.) OVERGENERALIZATION: You see a single negative event as a never-ending pattern of defeat.

3.) MENTAL FILTER: You pick out a single negative detail and dwell on it exclusively so that your vision of all reality becomes darkened, like the drop of ink that discolors the entire beaker of water.

4.) DISQUALIFYING THE POSITIVE: You reject positive experiences by insisting they “don’t count” for some reason or other. In this way you can maintain a negative belief that is contradicted by your everyday experiences.

5.) JUMPING TO CONCLUSIONS: You make a negative interpretation even though there are no definite facts that convincingly support your conclusion.

A.) MIND READING: You arbitrarily conclude that someone is reacting negatively to you, and you don’t bother to check this out.

B.) FORTUNE TELLING: You anticipate that things will turn out badly, and you feel convinced that your prediction is an already-established fact.


6.) MAGNIFICATION (CATASTROPHIZING) OR MINIMIZATION: You exaggerate the importance of things (such as your goof-up or someone else’s achievement), or you inappropriately shrink things until they appear tiny (your own desirable qualities or other fellow’s imperfections). This is also called the “binocular trick.”

7.) EMOTIONAL REASONING: You assume that your negative emotions necessarily reflect the way things really are: “I feel it, therefore it must be true.”

8.) SHOULD STATEMENTS: You try to motivate yourself with should and shouldn’t, as if you had to be whipped and punished before you could be expected to do anything. “Musts” and “oughts” are also offenders. The emotional consequences are guilt. When you direct should statements toward others, you feel anger, frustration, and resentment.

9.) LABELING AND MISLABELING: This is an extreme form of overgeneralization. Instead of describing your error, you attach a negative label to yourself. “I’m a loser.” When someone else’s behavior rubs you the wrong way, you attach a negative label to him” “He’s a damn louse.” Mislabeling involves describing an event with language that is highly colored and emotionally loaded.

10.) PERSONALIZATION: You see your self as the cause of some negative external event, which in fact you were not primarily responsible for.”

for anyone else who wants to have a look at the checklist this is it here http://www.drpaulsimpson.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Depression-Inventory.pdf it's called the Burns Depression checklist.

Thanks for the links to the video and the book, I'll have to check them out. Some of the items on the list above reminded my of Jordan Peterson's view that we often don't know how to place things on their proper level. It kind of fits with the Mental Filter and Magnification points above. I'm looking forward to taking the personality test when it's released as I think I'm quite high in neuroticism and tend to sabotage my own efforts.
 
Thanks for the links to the video and the book, I'll have to check them out. Some of the items on the list above reminded my of Jordan Peterson's view that we often don't know how to place things on their proper level. It kind of fits with the Mental Filter and Magnification points above. I'm looking forward to taking the personality test when it's released as I think I'm quite high in neuroticism and tend to sabotage my own efforts.

Yeah good point, I haven't been watching as much JP of late, but it sounds like you're onto something there.

The personality test? is that something JP is doing?

I'd say im high in the neuroticism too, even though I scored in the 60th percentile in the Hexaco test, which apparently is average. Have you done it yet Beorn? it's longish but I think worth having a look at :) http://www.personal.psu.edu/%7Ej5j/IPIP/ it's from the Traits of confident people thread https://cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php/topic,43169.30.html

wand3rer said:
Marina9 said:
Hey guys! Well I wanted to share with you this new book I discovered, i've been reading it for a couple of days and found out it could be very helpful for anyone dealing with depression.

Thanks Marina for the recommendation. I have recently started taking Anti depressants and Im wanting more each day to figure out how i can get off them. And it whole hearty is about thinking!! Will be getting this book Asap

987baz said:
I just watched this talk with David Burns, some really interesting ideas.

How to have good feelings, become happy and develop self-esteem ? - David D. Burns PHD

https://youtu.be/p6u3tT2NLEc



I found the PDF of the book: http://islamiconlineuniversity.com/counseling/resources/David%20Burns%20-%20Feeling%20Good.pdf

But it can also be found on Amazon :D

Thanks for the link Marina, I will have a read :)

Thanks for the link to the talk baz. He reminds me a little bit ab out what i read from dabrowksi and personality shaping. Either way it looks like a great resource to start dealing with my depression!! Again really appreciate to the resources!!

You're very welcome wand3rer :) Yeah, I think you're right about the Dabrowski connection! I have only just started reading the book myself, started doing the first exercise today, it's pretty amazing to see the negative thoughts that crop up without you really knowing they are there.

As I'm sure you know there is a wealth of info on here and SOTT about getting off the meds and finding alternative things that work, easy does it though, got to be kind to yourself and as always knowledge protects!!

On a personal note, I hope things down your neck of the woods are going ok mate, next time you're up this way let me know.
 
987baz said:
Thanks for the links to the video and the book, I'll have to check them out. Some of the items on the list above reminded my of Jordan Peterson's view that we often don't know how to place things on their proper level. It kind of fits with the Mental Filter and Magnification points above. I'm looking forward to taking the personality test when it's released as I think I'm quite high in neuroticism and tend to sabotage my own efforts.

Yeah good point, I haven't been watching as much JP of late, but it sounds like you're onto something there.

The personality test? is that something JP is doing?

I'd say im high in the neuroticism too, even though I scored in the 60th percentile in the Hexaco test, which apparently is average. Have you done it yet Beorn? it's longish but I think worth having a look at :) http://www.personal.psu.edu/%7Ej5j/IPIP/ it's from the Traits of confident people thread https://cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php/topic,43169.30.html

Yes, JP will be releasing an online version of the Big 5 personality traits test sometime in the near future. I haven't taken the Hexaco test but will put it on my to-do list for the weekend. Thanks for the link.
 
Yes, JP will be releasing an online version of the Big 5 personality traits test sometime in the near future. I haven't taken the Hexaco test but will put it on my to-do list for the weekend. Thanks for the link.

Oh cool, thanks for the info, will keep an eye out for that one for sure!

I think I might take the Hexaco test again at the end of the year, to see if there have been any changes, might be a reasonable way of evaluating how beneficial CBT can be?
 
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