Thoughts and Feelings: Taking Control of Your Moods and Your Life

Sounds like pop psychology -- but it's not.

I was laid off after more than 15 years with the same employer. Despite generous severance benefits, I did almost nothing to find another job -- or even stay afloat. After seven months, I finally wondered if I needed therapy. It took two false starts before I found the right combination of therapist and approach. One key approach is "cognitive behavior therapy," sometimes called cognitive therapy. It's the underpinning of this book. The first chapter explains the basics: your feelings are the result of your own thoughts -- in other words, these feelings aren't imposed on you by the outside. They stem from your thoughts about what you see and hear. So, for example, it's incident - thought - feeling. And for many psychological problems, the "thought" part starts to disappear from your awareness. The thought is automatic, and so you associate the feeling with the incident (your appearance, someone's comment, people around you). Part of the cognitive technique is learning to recognize the various thought patterns, and learning to catch your feelings, slow things down, identify the thoughts, and then challenge the assumptions that underpin them. After the first chapter, the workbook discusses several common types of problems -- anxiety, depression, low self-esteem -- and suggestions other chapters in the book to work through. Each chapter has exercises or techniques you can apply yourself. I can affirm that the techniques for depression and for low self-esteem are effective. They're NOT a cure-all, but they're an excellent first step. And if you're working with a therapist, or thinking about that, it's worth discussing the cognitive approach to see whether that might supplement your therapy. In terms of being able to face my own problems more successfully, I don't think anything I've read in fifteen years has been as helpful as this book. It's extremely important to point out that if you have debilitating problems, or if you have thoughts of suicide, this workbook will NOT be sufficient for you. You've heard it before, but that won't stop me from saying it: any certainty you have that you're worthless, that it's futile to make an effort, that things will never change -- that certainty is a distortion. You've had it for so long you can't see it. Cognitive therapy can give you a new perspective and help you combat distortions.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Very helpful!

This book was very helpful to me in recognizing my anxieties, thought distortions, and how to correct them. I have been anxious for many years, and recently was suffering from frequent panic attacks to the point where it was totally disrupting my life. This book really helped me to see that it was largely my thoughts that were causing the panic attacks. I have used most of the exercises in this book and it has dramatically improved my life by reducing the anxiety and panic attacks. I highly recommend this book especially if you are ready to take responsibility for your life, your thoughts, and how to improve them!

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