Feeling Great: The Revolutionary New Treatment for Depression and Anxiety

This book is absolutely wonderful. I got to know about this work through the Feeling Good podcast and this book is a beautifully written text encompassing many of the ideas, concepts and live therapies we hear in the podcast.A central thrust of the book is in addressing how patients resist change when working towards alleviating their symptoms of depression and anxiety, as well as relationship problems and addictions. The TEAM approach is absolutely ingenious(!) if somewhat counter-intuitive: Dr Burns shows us how depression and anxiety show wonderful things about us which paradoxically allows patients to let go of their resistance, allowing them to recover.I love several aspects of Feeling Great and the TEAM approach. Firstly, it is highly systematic and scientifically-formulated. The formulation of TEAM is evidence-based and data-driven, there is even a guest chapter written by a neuroscientist (Mark Noble) who explains insights in to the neuroscience behind TEAM. On the other hand, Feeling Great is also a deeply spiritual book too, examining some philosophical aspects (such as the notion of "self" and "the death of the ego"). It is full of the most beautiful, moving anecdotes from the Feeling Good podcast where you can listen to the actual therapy sessions and see for yourself how patients rapidly recover. The book is written so empathically and with immense compassion. And although Feeling Great has both scientific and philosophical aspects, it is not stuffy or academic, but highly practical - encapsulating all of the methods, distortions and positive re-framing notes in a single, fantastic resource.I could not recommend this book highly enough - it is superb!

Dr Burns' Feeling Good book literally saved my life when I found it back in 1986 as a college student. I can't imagine what my life would have been like if I had never found it.In the years since, I have carried my original dog-eared paperback copy everywhere, using it for tune-ups whenever I needed it, and bought just about everything else Dr Burns has ever written. However, although certain distorted thought patterns (mostly related to low self esteem) disappeared for me almost literally overnight when I first read the book and were easy to defeat whenever they threatened to sneak back, with some other patterns I felt eternally stuck. I'm still a perfectionist, I still procrastinate, I still feel the urge to make everyone else happy even when it makes me exhausted. I would do the original exercises, and they would help a bit, but never like the old breakthrough.The tools in this new book have given me hope for the first time in years that I can get unstuck in those few areas I've never been able to successfully address. Positive reframing offers a tool to analyze where you might be feeling resistance and how you can overcome that resistance. The dizzying array of techniques and the charts to help choose which techniques may be especially effective for which distortions have given me a lot more ammunition to tackle stubborn negative thoughts that don't respond to a first attempt.I have a lot of work to do on myself but during what is probably the worst year of our lives for many of us, this book is yet again a lifesaver. If you struggle with any form of depression or anxiety, you owe yourself a chance to feel much, much better.BTW I bought the Kindle version first but I'm going to order the hardback as well because it is that good. Nothing wrong with the Kindle version, sometimes you just want a physical book to hold.

The latest book from David Burns, MD, my favorite author, will transform the way you think and feel. Unlike other self-help books, which provide shallow and vacuous advice, David approaches the topic of personal transformation from a practitioner and scientist's point of view. His framework and methods have been well tested and validated in his 50,000 hours of clinical work and extensive research.The premise is simple. You FEEL the way you think. Your negative emotions are the results of your thoughts and not external events. David will provide you with powerful tools and methods to crush those negative thoughts and turn your life around.One of the book's highlights is the introduction of assessment of resistance, arguably on the most important developments in psychotherapy in recent times. David will show you how to reduce resistance to change by revealing what's incredible and positive about your negative thoughts and feelings. Once this resistance is reduced, it will become incredibly easy to transform the way you think.In addition to personal transformation, the section on relationships will show you how to develop intimate and rewarding relationships with anyone you want. David's relationship framework, Empathy, Assertiveness, Respect (EAR) is incredibly powerful, effective, and well researched.Whether you want to transform your personal life or your interpersonal life, this is the best book you will ever read.

Good book that should be used as a go-to manual once you finish reading it. The book explains the TEAM-CBT (Testing, Empathy, Assessment and Method - Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) methodology at length and provides numerous examples to illustrate all the techniques used. The main point: It is your thoughts, and not the circumstances of your life, that create your feelings. You feel the way you think (16). TEAM-CBT is the method used to change the way you think, and the book provides 50 ways (tools) to "untwist your thinking". Most of these tools are explained throughout the almost 500-page book. I enjoyed learning the "EAR" method (Empathy, Assertiveness, and Respect) to improve communication. There is a short checklist that explains the difference between good and bad communication. Overall, this is an excellent resource, and once you read through it once, then it should be used as a manual, using the tools as required.