The Feeling Good Handbook

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.

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.

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.

nice book

This book was recommended to me by my therapist. I've since bought multiple copies to give out to family and friends. This book has helped me through a lot of rough times, including unemployment, a very turbulent break up with a long-term partner, and dealing with my emotionally abusive father. It's very simple to read, gets straight to the point, and is pretty entertaining too. To give a sense of how effective this book really is, I just recently went back to an exercise that I had done over a year ago while I was unemployed titled "A prescription for procrastinators". My chosen focus for the exercise was my inability to "apply for jobs". I had gotten through just half of the exercises, because before I had even finished I was already motivated to start applying to jobs! It was like I had a mental block and I was finally able to get around it. If you feel frustrated or stuck about anything in your life, there's probably a whole chapter in this book about it, and multiple exercises. If you don't try this book, you can never say you've "tried everything" so why not just try it?

Therapist recommended.

Aaron Beck's Cognitive Therapy or CBT is a near science, add ancient Chistian monastic discipline as an Art to this (see Ancient Christian Wisdom and Aaron Beck's Cognitive Therapy: A Meeting of Minds) & your onto something, but David Burns adaption of CBT repeats over & over again about how negative thoughts MAY effect your life is overboard. There are too many factors that effect our thought relationship with reality. What about genetics, evironment, language, etc...Reality is the REAL, while our thoughts are but a SUBJECTIVE reflection, though it is amazing what humanity has created because of our thoughts & how we misuse our thoughts to damage ourselves & the world. Don't get me wrong, there are some good things in this book like the 5 Secrets in commication, how thoughts effect your feelings, the 10 forms of twisted thinking, etc...but once you get through the first chapters the rest of the book reads like a broken record: wrong thought - good thought - wrong thought - good thought... By the way this is NOT the famous book "Feeling Good" but the HANDBOOK to go with the book. More of a work through David Burns theory rather than read the basics of his theory.

In both this book and its predecessor ("Feeling Good"), David Burns has done an excellent job of putting tools into our hands so we can change the feelings and behaviors that we want to change. The tools in this book that I've found most helpful include (i) instruments to measure both anxiety and depression, (ii) a "pleasure-predicting sheet," (iii) a daily mood log to help identify and change unwanted feelings, and (iv) tools to help you overcome procrastination. I agree with another reviewer who said that this book and "Feeling Good" overlap to a great extent, and I recommend this one. You don't need to read "Feeling Good" first, and the worksheets in this "Handbook" are larger and easier to copy and work with. While Dr. Burns uses tools from cognitive behavioral therapy, I strongly recommend that you also obtain "A Guide to Rational Living," by Albert Ellis. Dr. Ellis invented rational (cognitive) behavioral therapy in the mid-1950s and still writes, lectures, and works with clients. While Burns' books are generally better written than Ellis', Dr. Ellis teaches you how to use cognitive techniques more effectively than Dr. Burns does. Instead of just showing you how to recognize faulty thinking that produces unwanted feelings and behaviors and think of alternative thoughts, Dr. Ellis teaches you how to PERSUADE YOURSELF that this faulty thinking is both irrational and counter-productive. In my view, the difference in their approaches is similar to that between an intellectual discussion and a thoroughly persuasive speech. In order to make the desired changes, you need to convincingly and powerfully persuade yourself to change your thinking. Together, this book and "A Guide to Rational Living" give you most all of the tools you need to experience the changes that you want in your feelings and behaviors. The approaches in both books require work. Passively reading them (or anything) will not lead to significant changes. The best news of all is this: There is hope! And you can have the tools at your fingertips.