The Feeling Good Handbook

For anyone interested in learning techniques to addressing their distressing thoughts, generally CBT and DBT are mentioned in the conversation. I believe most people present these techniques as a false-dichotomy and that both of these sets of skills can be used to reinforce each other and create a stronger, more disciplined mind. I've been focused more on DBT skills and techniques lately, and this book is an interesting contrast to the skills and techniques to the DBT school-of-thought. It is quite a lengthy read, but there are also a lot of CBT-oriented exercises available for the reader to complete as well.

Reading through some of the one star reviews I was surprised. Several of them seem to feel that Dr Burns is "victim blaming" when he points out that ultimately YOU are responsible for how you react to someone else. But it is a hard truth that too many people do not understand. Yes. When someone says something objectively cruel, it's no fun. But rather than being sad or angry, Burns teaches that we should ask ourselves "Is that a true statement?" Since most objectively cruel statements are not, we should be indifferent to it as we should be to all things not based on facts. On the other hand, if we have been depressed and perhaps not noticed our poor hygiene for a week and a stranger at a store says "You smell bad." We should acknowledge the objective truth of it. Whether the person meant to make us feel bad or were trying to help us is irrelevant to the truth of their statement. If it's true, a nice hot bath might make us feel a little better. No need to get angry or sad at their observation. In short, good mental health requires active participation by the patient. Some people will be helped by meds, others won't for various reasons, one of which is the person expecting the meds to be magical pills that fix everything with zero effort from the patient. A LOT of GP's prescribe anti-depressants without any therapy because the patients refuse to attend. Those folks fall into the aforementioned category. Burns says that patients HAVE to participate for long-term mental health. The book explains that being mindful that depression can cause your mind to literally lie to you and goes through ways to fight back. It has ways to help stop the "looping" that happens when the mind decides to compulsively make you think about something over and over. It has a workbook component that I see a LOT of people resenting. Seriously? The workbook was very helpful to me. The author even caught me trying to NOT take the it because I resented it at first. Instead of being resentful, I did the work and was the better for it. With my most recent purchase I have now bought 6 copies of this book for various friends fighting serious depression. The ones that actually did the workbook part of this book have thanked me. The others? They tossed it on their bookshelf and still show all the signs of being depressed. This is not a cure-all. It is not a talisman wherein the mere ownership induces good mental health. You have to read it, do the work book parts and then go out and do the work itself every day. Good luck.

In my early 20's, I had some serious issues with depression and anxiety. I was coerced into reading this in a program I was in as "punishment." Ironically, it was the most effective thing I had ever found. Be leery of anyone that promises you a quick or simple fix to anxiety/depression. These things develop very slowly and, likewise, it takes a long time to get better. What I can say is this: do this book... ALL OF IT! It is very easy to say to hell with it and skim through some chapters or look for the magic solutions. You just need to work your way through it though, every exercise. It was a remarkable experience for me. Each week I didn't feel any difference really, maybe a marginal improvement. However, taking the depression/anxiety inventories week-by-week, over the course of several months, I saw things getting better and better (obviously, with the exception of some rough weeks, since life still happens). However, as someone who struggled with mood disorders (I will not get into specifics, but there have been some very dark and scary times) since my teenage years, off and on, this was the first time things honestly changed, semi-permanently. It has now been about 5 years since I first worked through the book and I have bought it myself, now, as I have just moved across the country to earn my doctorate. Obviously, this brings about a lot of stress and feelings of insecurity. The move alone is intense. However, this book will help you control your irrational thoughts and keep yourself in check. There are no miracles in mental health. There is no quick and easy way to cure depression: no supplements, no pills, no dietary changes. Sure, every one of those things can marginally help, but without addressing the cognitive bases of these problems, things will inevitably return after an initial period of placebo-esque hope. This book promises slow, continual progress and it delivers. If you are truly struggling, I cannot recommend this enough.

Excellent book with practical techniques to identify and change very common self defeating thought patterns. Very effective if followed diligently. It was very useful to use these techniques to identify and challenge thought patterns and use my notes as discussions points for therapist appointments. Reading this book and following the techniques listed helped me make the best use of therapist sessions - as I could identify exactly what thoughts were leading to changes in my mood and feelings of sadness , stress or anxiety - something I do not think I could have done (or may have taken many many sessions to do) if not for the techniques listed in the book. The only 2 drawbacks I find are 1. at times Dr. Burns is a bit dismissive of issues and make everything seem very easy to solve, while in reality they may not be. However this is something I am willing to ignore given how effective the book is overall. 2. In the chapter on general anxiety I wish there had been some mention of anxieties resulting from worries about the future and anticipating / getting stuck in an outcome that may or may not happen. I find this to be the most common cause of anxiety amongst most people and surprisingly there were no examples or solutions for this specifically. Nevertheless, I would highly recommend this book, certainly for someone vulnerable to depression, anxiety or stress, but additionally also to anyone wanting to improve their thinking patterns and hence feelings, actions and quality of life.

Simple to read. Great content

I'm not sure why I never discovered this book till now but glad I've found it. It beats every other therapy book I have read. It's comprehensive addresses may of the issues people face. It's well written but I can only get through small chunks at a time. I have a notebook and bookmark to keep track of where I am I can see it being intimidating for some people. 1) It's quite thick 2) one has to be prepared to do a lot of reading as well as exercises. While CBT may not work for everything, I believe everyone will find something useful in this book. Also keep in mind you don't need to do the whole book, just the relevant sections. SUGGESTIONS - I recommend buying the 1999 edition (the one with Dr. Burns on the cover). The edition with the blue cover is flimsy and the paper is so thin and tears easily. - Buy the handbook over the classic 'Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy'. The handbook is more comprehensive and a better format and has exercises. Or get both if you want the classic to read while traveling etc. It does have some content that the Handbook does not have. The Handbook is quite bulky but the classic is small though a bit hard to read (it's designed and formatted like an old paperbacks from the 70s - even though it's new) - If you find the books intimidating or prefer a different format, I highly recommend the podcast. He covers a lot of the same material and it might be easier to understand the concepts. - My only criticism is the instructions for the exercises should be clearer and they should provide digital copies as the ones in the book are small and hard to photo and print. I ended up making my own versions.

I went through the self-help book fad in the 1970s (_The Road Less Traveled_ and _Fight But Fight Fair_ among others) and after some point they all seemed the same. I began psychotherapy around July 2014 and the therapist recommended David Burns' Book. Hers was the older edition and it was well-used. Despite my skepticism I purchased the book and read through it with as much of an open mind as possible. I can't say that I got much out of this because it read like the ones from the past. Various types of dysfunctional behavior are addressed including a label for each, how to recognize it and exercises on how to go about modifying it to a positive. This book is a little more well-rounded than other self-help books because it goes beyond relationships. It addresses fear of public speaking and fear of death (among other behaviors), chapters not usually addressed in other books. Right now mine is sitting on my kitchen table taking up space so I don't know if it's helped. I hope it will at some point. Maybe a younger person who is going through a crisis could provide a more unbiased review. Self-help books shouldn't take the place of a professional but this one might be a good start. Before committing to purchasing it try your library.

Wife ordered it based off of therapy suggestions.

I saw the original in Barnes &Noble . Bought the Amazon version due to the discount from $38 USD TO half the price but the quality is no the same. The Amazon version is poor. The covers are too thin, paper is the lowest quality possible, the paper is brownish making it more difficult to read, you can see the text of the back of the page. Plus the packaging is careless the book got damaged in the transportation. Bottom line I regret of not investing in a higher quality and feel dissatisfied with the product I received from Amazon. In the description should specify: “is the same text but printed with extreme low cost and poor quality in cheap paper” with this information one can take an informed decision to buy or not this item.

Non sono riuscita a leggere ancora tutto il libro... i vari capitoli affrontano situazioni comuni in cui ci si può trovare in difficoltà e spiegano possibili metodi di gestione pratica. Dal mio punto di vista il libro può risultare utile se si hanno difficoltà emotive non troppo invalidanti. Diversamente le soluzioni proposte non risultano risolutive.

This book was referred to in an online self help site that my doctor recommended. The book is very good at helping identify where problems may lie and how to think yourself well again. It has various exercises which at first seem daunting but as you work through them you really do start to feel better. I wish I had known about this book years ago, it would have helped me deal with life and the stuff that gets chucked at you. I will be using this book to keep myself well.

Doing the written work this time ; )

Encore plus que le "feeling good" original, ce livre donne des idées simples, pratiques et efficaces sur le rôle des pensées sur les émotions, sur le rôle des émotions pour établir le contact avec autrui. Il décrit deux pratiques, un journal de ses humeurs et de ses croyances et un agenda, que je recommanderai. Étant moi-même adepte de la communication non violente, ses pistes pour répondre à une personne (un client en l'occurrence) en colère me donnent des idées nouvelles (dire oui par exemple). Enfin, ses exemples finals sur comment motiver des clients qui s'autosabotent m'ont aussi grandement aidé. Bref, lisez-le sans plus tarder, même s'il a plus de 10 ans au compteur.