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4.05 AVERAGE
4.05 AVERAGE
Solid intro to CBT techniques, though I did find some of the philosophy to be overstated and unhelpful. For example, he repeatedly asserts that "all emotions ever are caused by conscious thoughts", which just seems patently false IMHO. That said, the exercises and insights are helpful.
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
fast-paced
hopeful
informative
medium-paced
Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy is a transformative and insightful book that delves into cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and its power to combat negative thinking patterns and improve mental health. The book does an excellent job of explaining the core principles of CBT in a way that's easy to understand and apply to daily life.
One of the standout features is its practical approach. It offers readers simple, actionable techniques to challenge distorted thoughts and replace them with more rational, balanced thinking. The book uses real-life examples and exercises that help readers recognize the common cognitive distortions contributing to anxiety, depression, and other emotional struggles.
What I particularly appreciated is how the book empowers individuals to take control of their mental health. It’s not just about understanding your thoughts but actively changing them to create lasting positive change. For anyone struggling with self-esteem, depression, or anxiety, this book provides valuable tools to help break the cycle of negative thinking.
The writing is clear, direct, and empathetic, making it accessible even for those who are not familiar with psychological terms or therapy. However, some readers may find the repetitive nature of the exercises a bit tedious, but given the book’s focus on practical application, I think it’s worth pushing through.
Overall, Feeling Good is a must-read for anyone interested in improving their mental well-being. It's a timeless resource that not only helps with managing negative emotions but also promotes a healthier mindset in everyday life.
If you've ever experienced depression or anxiety or had a loved one who did, you'll recognize how spot-on Dr. Burns' descriptions of thinking errors are. In clear language with occasional humor, he pinpoints common ways your brain will lead you astray and provides concrete exercises to bring those thoughts under control. He demonstrates how emotions stem from thoughts (e.g., how you react to a given situation depends on what you believe is going on), and thus shows how you can adjust your mood by using logic to defeat your thought patterns. Even if you haven't experienced clinical depression, you will likely find some approach you can use to help deal with the rage or regret or guilt you experience in the course of everyday life.
The foreword to this edition includes information about studies that have been conducted showing just what a stunning effect reading this book has had on subjects' depression, even in the absence of counseling or medication. It's practical, relatable, and easy to pick up again anytime you need a refresher. Burns anticipates the reader's objections and responds to them through amusing hyperbole or imaginary role play. There's clearly a reason that this book is so often recommended by psychologists.
I have a few minor critiques or words of caution:
-First, don't make my mistake and get the audiobook without the PDF guide. I couldn't open the PDF guide, but I didn't think it would be a big deal because it hasn't been with previous audiobooks that had accompanying guides. In this one, though, huge pieces of the book are contained only in the PDF guide, and the narrator references it constantly. If you want access to the lists he references or want to see examples of the techniques in practice, you'll want a hard copy or to make sure you can access the PDF guide.
-The whole last section of the book is on antidepressant medication, and it drags a bit. I don't know enough about current medications to be confident in saying this, but it seemed like the information was outdated, so it was fairly useless. His larger points about using medication in combination with counseling, how to know if your medication is working, and the caution about drug interactions were all relevant to today, but he goes into a lot of specifics about certain medications and I zoned out a bit.
-The book's language shows its age a bit. He uses the term "crippled" more than once, speaks about deafness only as a disability, and assumes that all people want "the opposite sex" to be interested in them. It didn't necessarily distract from his main points, but it was certainly cringeworthy.
-There are a few examples that could be misinterpreted, depending on your background. For example, he talks about a woman whose husband left her for another woman winning him back by only speaking positively to him and frequently complimenting him. It was intended to be an example of the power of positive language, but it could come across in a problematic way depending on what implications someone reads into it.
All in all, I found this a powerful, practical guide to mood regulation through combating faulty thinking patterns. It's a bit on the long side, but it's worth it. I'd recommend it to just about anyone.
The foreword to this edition includes information about studies that have been conducted showing just what a stunning effect reading this book has had on subjects' depression, even in the absence of counseling or medication. It's practical, relatable, and easy to pick up again anytime you need a refresher. Burns anticipates the reader's objections and responds to them through amusing hyperbole or imaginary role play. There's clearly a reason that this book is so often recommended by psychologists.
I have a few minor critiques or words of caution:
-First, don't make my mistake and get the audiobook without the PDF guide. I couldn't open the PDF guide, but I didn't think it would be a big deal because it hasn't been with previous audiobooks that had accompanying guides. In this one, though, huge pieces of the book are contained only in the PDF guide, and the narrator references it constantly. If you want access to the lists he references or want to see examples of the techniques in practice, you'll want a hard copy or to make sure you can access the PDF guide.
-The whole last section of the book is on antidepressant medication, and it drags a bit. I don't know enough about current medications to be confident in saying this, but it seemed like the information was outdated, so it was fairly useless. His larger points about using medication in combination with counseling, how to know if your medication is working, and the caution about drug interactions were all relevant to today, but he goes into a lot of specifics about certain medications and I zoned out a bit.
-The book's language shows its age a bit. He uses the term "crippled" more than once, speaks about deafness only as a disability, and assumes that all people want "the opposite sex" to be interested in them. It didn't necessarily distract from his main points, but it was certainly cringeworthy.
-There are a few examples that could be misinterpreted, depending on your background. For example, he talks about a woman whose husband left her for another woman winning him back by only speaking positively to him and frequently complimenting him. It was intended to be an example of the power of positive language, but it could come across in a problematic way depending on what implications someone reads into it.
All in all, I found this a powerful, practical guide to mood regulation through combating faulty thinking patterns. It's a bit on the long side, but it's worth it. I'd recommend it to just about anyone.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is a valuable tool. This book introduces the concept, along with a few specific ways to try it out.
Mind you, this book isn't perfect. I think the author put too much emphasis in the beginning on a "bibliotherapy" study of people reading his book. I would think that some sort of workshop or structured group practice would be more effective than just handing a book to people and leaving them to their own devices.
I was tremendously entertained by the story of the woman who was certain she would have a bad reaction with medications.
The book refers often to "enhancements" - visual aids that may be packaged with the audiobook. I don't know if those were available or not through Libby. For the most part, I didn't miss them. However, the author apparently leaves off the last chapter entirely because of the dense detail (maybe it was talking about medications?) and felt that would be a useful reference, but not interesting to listen to.
This book could have gone more in depth on specific practices and techniques.
This isn't an incredibly great book. Cognitive behavioral therapy is, however, an extremely important concept, and that is why I am rating this highly. This book is useful for anyone who experiences depressive episodes, knows people with such emotional struggles, or has heard of Cognitive behavioral therapy and wants to understand it better.
Mind you, this book isn't perfect. I think the author put too much emphasis in the beginning on a "bibliotherapy" study of people reading his book. I would think that some sort of workshop or structured group practice would be more effective than just handing a book to people and leaving them to their own devices.
I was tremendously entertained by the story of the woman who was certain she would have a bad reaction with medications.
The book refers often to "enhancements" - visual aids that may be packaged with the audiobook. I don't know if those were available or not through Libby. For the most part, I didn't miss them. However, the author apparently leaves off the last chapter entirely because of the dense detail (maybe it was talking about medications?) and felt that would be a useful reference, but not interesting to listen to.
This book could have gone more in depth on specific practices and techniques.
This isn't an incredibly great book. Cognitive behavioral therapy is, however, an extremely important concept, and that is why I am rating this highly. This book is useful for anyone who experiences depressive episodes, knows people with such emotional struggles, or has heard of Cognitive behavioral therapy and wants to understand it better.
Concrete tips for breaking out of destructive thought patterns. This edition has useful information on various medications, and in general Burns is much more open to medication as having benefits than he was in the past.
If self help books can help people, and depression is your problem, then buying this is probably the best thing you can do with your money. Written by a Psychiatrist and based on proven effective methods, this method of treatment holds great potential for those who have had an extended visit from the black dog.
Burns' cognitive therapy helps us to identify the destructive patterns of our thoughts, and combat them with powerful, more realistic ones. This method has apparently worked for thousands of people, even where years of psychiatric therapy has failed, and if followed properly, is quick to achieve results as well.
Burns is not one of those silent therapists who just listens to your thoughts to let you 'get them out', he actively argues against your overgeneralisations, filtering, catastrophisation or whatever is your entrenched, preferred habit of self flagellation, and enables you to see the inconsistencies and unreality of your own arguments, to lead you out of the woods (sorry about all the mixed euphemisms here!)
I'm not a person who suffers from depression, fortunately, but other members of my family do, and this has helped me to see a way to talk to them in their down times, whilst at the same time offering me direct help to my own progress towards better mental health. So I would not by any means say that the utility of this book is limited to the family, friends and victims of depression. I felt the book helped me to identify the negative thought patterns which damage my ability to respond constructively to criticism and failure, and which drag my self esteem down when things go wrong.
Its hard to think of anyone except the extremely overconfident who would not benefit from at least reading this book. It is a keeper, because its lessons need reinforcement and remembering over and over again.
Burns' cognitive therapy helps us to identify the destructive patterns of our thoughts, and combat them with powerful, more realistic ones. This method has apparently worked for thousands of people, even where years of psychiatric therapy has failed, and if followed properly, is quick to achieve results as well.
Burns is not one of those silent therapists who just listens to your thoughts to let you 'get them out', he actively argues against your overgeneralisations, filtering, catastrophisation or whatever is your entrenched, preferred habit of self flagellation, and enables you to see the inconsistencies and unreality of your own arguments, to lead you out of the woods (sorry about all the mixed euphemisms here!)
I'm not a person who suffers from depression, fortunately, but other members of my family do, and this has helped me to see a way to talk to them in their down times, whilst at the same time offering me direct help to my own progress towards better mental health. So I would not by any means say that the utility of this book is limited to the family, friends and victims of depression. I felt the book helped me to identify the negative thought patterns which damage my ability to respond constructively to criticism and failure, and which drag my self esteem down when things go wrong.
Its hard to think of anyone except the extremely overconfident who would not benefit from at least reading this book. It is a keeper, because its lessons need reinforcement and remembering over and over again.
A good book to help improve your mood but you have to be willing to do the exercises every day. The medication research is interesting but since this book was published a long time ago, I don't know how much of it is still relevant.
This book is so boring. I was half way through the book and I thought I was reading the same few chapters again and again. It has some useful ideas, but most of them involve writing down the same dull things. I only recommend this book if you feel like you're TOTALLY worthless.