Ten Days to Self-Esteem

by David D Burns M.D.

Overview

Do you wake up dreading the day?
Do you feel ciscouraged with what you've accomplished in life?
Do you want greater self-esteem, productivity, and joy in daily living?

If so, you will benefit from this revolutionary way of brightening your moods without drugs or lengthy therapy. All you need is your own common sense and the easy-to-follow methods revealed in this book by one of the country's foremost authorities on mood and personal relationship problems.

In Ten Days to Self-esteem, Dr. David Burns presents innovative, clear, and compassionate methods that will help you identify the causes of your mood slumps and develop a more positive outlook on life. You will learn that

You feel the way you think: Negative feelings like guilt, anger, and depression do not result from the bad things that happen to you, but from the way you think about these events. This simple but revolutionary idea can change your life!

You can change the way you feel: You will discover why you get depressed and learn how to brighten your outlook when you're in a slump.

You can enjoy greater happiness, productivity, and intimacy—without drugs or lengthy therapy.

Can a self-help book do all this? Studies show that two thirds of depressed readers of Dr. Burns's classic bestseller, Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy, experienced dramatic felief in just four weeks without psychotherapy or antidepressant medications. Three-year follow-up studies revealed that readers did not relapse but continued to enjoy their positive outlook. Ten Days to Self-esteem offers a powerful new tool that provides hope and healing in ten easy steps. The methods are based on common sense and are not difficult to apply. Research shows that they really work!

Feeling good feels wonderful. You owe it to yourself to feel good!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780688094553
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	03/17/1999
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	336
Sales rank:	83,967
Product dimensions:	8.50(w) x 11.00(h) x 0.84(d)

About the Author

David D. Burns, M.D., a clinical psychiatrist, conveys his ideas with warmth, compassion, understanding, and humor unmatched by any other writer in the self-help field. His bestselling Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy has sold more than three million copies to date. In a recent national survey of mental health professionals, Feeling Good was rated number one—from a list of more than one thousand—as the most frequently recommended self-help book on depression. His Feeling Good Handbook was rated number two in the same survey.

Dr. Burns's entertaining teaching style has made him a popular lecturer for general audiences and mental health professionals throughout the country as well as a frequent guest on national radio and television programs. He has received numerous awards including the Distinguished Contribution to Psychology Through the Media Award from the Association of Applied and Preventive Psychology. A magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Amherst College, Dr. Burns received his medical degree from the Stanford University School of Medicine. He is currently clinical associate professor of psychiatry at the Stanford University School of Medicine and is certified by the National Board of Psychiatry and Neurology.

Read an Excerpt

THE PRICE OF HAPPINESS

What do you think it will take for you to achieve your goals and make some significant changes in your life? What is the key to self-esteem and happiness?

In my clinical practice during the past twenty years, I have had the opportunity to work with many men and women from all walks of life with a wide variety of problems. I have seen people who responded to treatment quickly and others who required a long, persistent effort to recover. I have discovered that one of the most important keys to recovery, regardless of your age, sex, or race, is the willingness to help yourself.

Some people do not seem to understand or accept this simple idea. They are quite happy to complain endlessly about how bad things are as long as they don't have to do anything to solve their problems. They see themselves as victims of unfair circumstances and wait passively for someone or something to fix things for them. Sadly, that usually doesn't happen. Years later they are still feeling miserable, waiting for justice or magic to make their lives better.

Of course, this passive approach to personal growth has sometimes been reinforced by mental health professionals and the media. The stereotype of psychotherapy portrayed in popular books and movies is lying on the couch and saying whatever comes into your mind, while a kindly psychoanalyst listens and nods knowingly from time to time. After years and years, something wonderful is supposed to happen.

Although a warm and caring relationship with someone you trust can often make you feel much better, I want you to get better. That means working hard to make real changes in your life now andin the future.

I have had the pleasure of treating many people through the years who did understand this. They worked hard during sessions and between sessions to develop greater self-esteem. They did not blame the world but assumed personal responsibility for changing their lives. Their hard efforts paid off handsomely, because they recovered the most rapidly. As I mentioned in the Introduction, research studies have demonstrated that self-help does work. This is why I want to ask you right now: Are you willing to pay the price of happiness?

Copyright )1993 by David D. Burns

Ten Days to Self-Esteem. Copyright © by David Burns. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold.