Awake 1987 reference to Feeling Good

[Lance]

I first became acquainted with this book when I read the Awake 1987 Oct 22 article on depression..one of my go to articles to this day when helping ones in the congregation.

I had major health issues, and along with it came depression..

I read the Awake article, and it piqued my interest in  finding out more information. So I picked up this book and I loved the practical wisdom and approach to coping with the way I was was thinking about my health challenges. I was then assigned to a large inner city congregation that was 90 percent sisters and just 2 elders.(and learned a lot very quickly). in the late 80's abuse issues were coming to the fore and the practical wisdom of this book helped me to help others dealing with the cognitive distortions that resulted from abuse and other issues plaguing everyone..

So this reading group is for those who are reading one of Dr Burns Books  and what you have found that has worked or that you are working on..

Who knows I might be the only one in this group....

 

 

Awake! does not endorse or promote any form of treatment but provides current information to be helpful. See “Attacking Major Depression—Professional Treatments” in our October 22, 1981, issue. To overcome the simple blues, which are quite different from major depression, see “How Can I Get Rid of the Blues?” in our October 8, 1982, issue.

The confidant of a depressed person must not only avoid judgmental statements that would add to that one’s feelings of guilt and worthlessness but also not be unrealistically optimistic. Our next issue will have information on how others can help depressed ones.

[Box on page 13]

Distorted Thinking Patterns

All-or-nothing thinking: You see things in black-and-white categories. If your performance falls short of perfection, you see yourself as a total failure.

Overgeneralization: You see a single negative event as a never-ending pattern of defeat. For instance, after an argument with a friend, you may conclude: ‘I’m losing all my friends. Nothing turns out right for me.’

Disqualifying the positive: You reject positive experiences by insisting that they “don’t count” or, “I’m not worthy of such.” By dwelling on a single negative detail, your whole view darkens.

Jumping to conclusions: You arbitrarily conclude that someone doesn’t like you, and you don’t bother to check this out. Or you are absolutely convinced that things will always turn out badly.

Magnification or minimization: You exaggerate the importance of things (such as your own mistake or someone else’s achievement) or play down things until they appear tiny (your own desirable qualities or the other fellow’s imperfections). You make nightmarish disasters out of commonplace negative events.

Personalization: You see yourself as the cause of some negative external event that, in fact, you were not primarily responsible for.

Based on Feeling Good—The New Mood Therapy, by David D. Burns, M.D.

Edited July 21, 2021 by Lance

[Lewis]

What I like about this book is that it is basically a self-help how to on cognitive behavioural therapy. 

 

But to fully appreciate the information and its feedback you need to do the exercises for it to be worth anything. Just reading the book wont do much in the long term. You need to practice changing the way you think.

 

For anyone who suffers depression or PTSD, this is one of the best self-help books out there and i have seen a lot of good feedbacks results to a number of depressed people who have reviewed this book, including myself.