Stress, emotional breakdowns, pessimism. How familiar these states are to us! Depression has become global today social problem. Recent research in the field of psychiatry has shown that a person can control mood swings and with the help of certain simple techniques overcome poor health without the use of antidepressants.
The book by the famous American psychotherapist David D. Burns will help you learn emotional self-regulation, overcome depression, increase self-esteem and performance. She will tell you what to do if you feel like you are “sinking into the abyss” or you don’t want to live.
Introduction
Mood-lifting techniques are surprisingly effective. Actually, cognitive therapy is one of the first forms of psychotherapy that has been shown to clinical trials, turns out to be in some cases even more effective than antidepressant drug therapy in the treatment of mild and moderate depression. Antidepressants are often very helpful in treating of this disease, but now we have an effective approach that has already helped many people overcome this disease without the use of drugs. Even if you are using medication, the self-help techniques described in this book can only speed up your recovery.
Published research has also confirmed that cognitive therapy has a number of advantages over other psychotherapies in the treatment of depression, including behavioral, intra- and interpersonal therapy. These discoveries interested many psychiatrists and psychologists and sparked a wave of new clinical research. Dr. Myrna Weissman, of Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, concludes in an article in a leading psychiatric journal (Archives general psychiatry") large-scale studies show the benefits of cognitive therapy compared to other methods. The final answer in the dispute between various methods Treatment will take time and further research, but initial results from cognitive therapy have been promising.
A new method of therapy has an impact on universal human feelings. However, its rapid influence caused skepticism among a number of traditionally oriented analytic therapists. However, traditional therapeutic approaches often fail to treat severe depression, and the result actually turns out to be quite low. On the contrary, after just three months of treatment, the majority of severely depressed patients, after applying the methods described in this book, noted a real improvement that the treatment brought them.
I wrote this book so that you can easily learn the techniques that have helped many people overcome depression and lead them to increased self-esteem and happiness. When you learn to manage your emotions, you will understand that personal growth can only be the result of healthy image life. In the process of improving character and accepting certain principles of life, a person achieves desired results: the efficiency of its activities and performance increases.
I remember one of my patients - old Fred. For ten years he experienced severe, untreatable depression. Therefore, I was forced to stay in the hospital of the Research Center all the time depressive states, trembling all day long and staring at one point. When I tried to talk to him, Fred looked at me sadly and muttered: “I'm dying, doctor, I'm dying.” The patient was in the hospital for so long that it began to seem to me that he would die of old age within its walls. One day he had a heart attack and was almost on the verge of death. The fact that he survived caused him bitter disappointment. After several weeks spent in the Heart Center, the patient returned to the Depression Research Center hospital.
Fred was treated with all the antidepressants known at that time, and a number of experimental medicinal substances, but his depression did not subside. Finally, as a last resort, Fred's doctor decided to use electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), a treatment used only when all other methods had failed. I had never used electroconvulsive therapy before, but I agreed to help this doctor. After the last, eighteenth electric shock, when Fred began to recover from the anesthesia, he looked around and asked me where he was. I told him that he was in the hospital and would now return back to the ward. I hoped that the patient would feel at least a little better, and asked how he was feeling. He looked at me and sadly muttered: “I’m dying.”
Then it became clear to me that it was necessary to look for more radical methods to combat depression, but I didn’t know which ones. By then Dr John Paul Braddy, Chairman Psychiatric Department at the University of Pennsylvania, invited me to work with Dr. Aaron T. Beck, one of the world's leading experts in the study of depression. Dr. Beck was developing a new revolutionary method of treating depression, which he called “cognitive therapy.”
As I mentioned earlier, the word “cognitive” simply describes what you are thinking and feeling at a given time. Dr. Beck's thesis was extremely simple.
1) When you are upset or depressed, your thoughts are illogical, everything is seen in an extremely negative light, and defeatist attitudes prevail.
2) With only a little effort, you can learn to deal with negative thoughts and correct your behavior.
3) When painful symptoms retreat, your activities become productive again, happiness returns to you again, you begin to respect yourself again.
4) All this can be achieved in a relatively short period of time using corrective treatment methods.
It all seemed quite simple and obvious. Of course, my depressed patients thought about everything in an extremely pessimistic and distorted way. However, I was very skeptical that deep depression, manifested in severe emotional disturbances, can be easily overcome with the help of the corrective program proposed by Dr. Beck. Overall this idea seemed too simple to me!
After reading a headline like this, some will probably think about some kind of stimulants. However, it all depends on the individual degree of depravity. However, we are talking about simple things that will make you feel better on a mental level. We all get asked questions from time to time:
am I a significant person, have I achieved anything, what good have I done today, and so on. These torments spoil the mood.
But here are five simple recommendations, which will help alleviate this “suffering”.
Receive compliments
You've probably felt the emotional rush that comes when someone compliments you or your work, or simply says a few nice words. Sometimes a compliment can just boost your performance and generally make your whole day better.
This is why receiving compliments is so important. And to receive them, you need to be a little more generous yourself, right? Don't skimp on good words and enjoy receiving compliments.
Lose excess weight (stay in shape)
The idea of getting rid of excess weight has long consumed our minds: we try various diets, new ways to lose weight, and so on. And here it is important to slightly shift the focus of your actions. It’s important not so much to lose weight as to stay in shape in general: run, eat healthy food, take walks, go to the gym. And after a good and effective effort, your mood will improve on its own. Has anyone ever returned from a run on a cool summer morning in a bad mood?
Reading
We are used to admiring educated people and respect knowledge in general. This is, of course, wonderful. But often we scold ourselves for insufficient education, lack of knowledge in one area or another. In the meantime, it’s easy enough to read good books. After reading and comprehending another book, you feel that you have become a little better. And this feeling is always worth the time spent on it.
Reconnecting with old friends
Some good people are lost, disappear from our lives. We move to other areas, cities or countries, change jobs and educational establishments. It's impossible to stay in touch with everyone, but it's even nicer to meet old friends. A simple call or message from such a person can give you many pleasant moments. And if no one calls, why not uncover the old notebook yourself?
Cleaning
Let's leave the most banal, but no less effective, for last. Cleaning and generally organizing the surrounding space is a tedious and not always pleasant task, but the sight of a clean and organized room that I have just cleaned always creates amazing clarity in my head. But often it’s enough to clear out your desktop or put things in order on your hard drive.
David Burns
Feeling good
New mood therapy
MOSCOW EVENING * PERSEY * ACT 1995
Feeling good: New mood therapy / Transl. from English L. Slavina - M.: Veche, Perseus, ACT, 1995. - 400 pages - (Self-Help) ISBN 5-7141-0092-1.
BBK 88.5 B 51 UDC 159.923
The series was founded in 1994 Translation from English L. Slavina
Publishers notify us of the acquisition of exclusive rights to publish in Russian the book “Feeling Good” by David D. Burns. Any editions of this book published in Russian without an agreement with the publishers will be considered illegal.
ISBN 5-7141-0092-1 (Veche) ISBN 5-88421-034-5 (Perseus) ISBN 5-88196-375-Х (ACT)
David D. Burns. Feeling Good. The New Mood Therapy
© 1980 by David D. Burns, M. D. All rights reserved.
© Edition in Russian. “Perseus”, “Evening”, ACT, 1995
© Translation. L. Slavin, 1995
© Decoration. "Perseus", 1995
Preface
I am very pleased that David Burns has written a public domain book on mood swings that has generated much interest and admiration among health professionals. Dr. Burns has spent years of intensive research analyzing the causes and treatments of depression, and has clearly shown the role of self-help in treating this disease. This book is an extremely useful guide for people who want to master methods of self-regulation of mood.
A few words about the development of cognitive therapy may be of interest to readers of this book. Soon after the start professional activity As a practitioner of traditional psychoanalytic psychiatry, I became enthusiastic about research that could empirically confirm Freud's theories regarding the treatment of depression. However, the results I obtained did not agree well with this theory. My search led to the emergence of a new theory, supported by numerous studies, about the causes of depression. Studies have shown that a person susceptible to depression seems to be “lost” to society due to inconsistency with generally accepted ideas and, accordingly, is doomed to the collapse of all hopes, deprivation, humiliation and trouble. Further experiments showed a significant difference between the self-esteem of a depressed person, his expectations and aspirations, on the one hand, and his actual achievements, often very underestimated, on the other. The conclusion I made was this: depression disrupts the process of comprehending a particular situation; A depressed person thinks negatively about himself, the people around him, and his future. Such pessimism affects a person's mood, motivations and relationships with other people and ultimately leads to full spectrum psychophysiological symptoms characteristic of depression.
We now have numerous results from clinical studies confirming that a person can control mood swings and by using certain relatively simple techniques overcome poor health. The promising results of this work have sparked interest in cognitive therapy among psychiatrists, psychologists, and a number of other specialists. Many authors considered the results of our developments as the basis for the scientific study of psychotherapy. Evolving theory emotional disturbances, which forms the basis of this study, has been the subject of close study in leading medical centers all over the world.
In this book, Dr. Burns describes the progress that has occurred in understanding the causes of depression. In simple and accessible language, he introduces new effective methods, helping to overcome such a painful condition as depression. I hope that readers will be able to apply the techniques developed while treating people with depression and described in the book to their own problems. Those suffering from severe depression need medical assistance, but people with more light forms depression can be helped by using the newly discovered "universal" techniques that Dr. Burns reveals in his book. Thus, the book “Feeling Good” is extremely important for those who want to overcome depression or just a bad mood.
Finally, this book reflects the unique personal insight of its author, whose enthusiasm and creative energy have been a special gift to his patients and colleagues.
Aaron T. Beck, MD, PhD
Professor of Psychiatry, School of Medicine
Tatiana/ 10.27.2018 I don’t recommend listening to those who “haven’t read it, but don’t approve.” This is not a populist book, but a popular presentation for readers of the results of many years of painstaking work on the treatment of depression by a doctor at a university clinic, a real scientist. It was he who discovered that the majority of depression can be perfectly and completely cured only by psychotherapy, a slightly smaller percentage - by a combination of therapy and antidepressants, and only small part- a real challenge for doctors. Even the water that was mentioned here is not water, but a constant reinforcement of positive cognitions. For the thinking person, this is a self-help guide that works. Like an inflatable ring, with the help of which you can stop drowning and swim to a solid shore. And at the same time learn to swim. I checked it on myself.
Vadim/ 10/19/2015 Russia as a whole needs this kind of therapy in order to jump from suffering to enjoying life.
Alexei/ 07/23/2014 Excellent book! If you read it and DO THE EXERCISES it contains, you will definitely get results! I increased my self-esteem so much with its help, got rid of fears and perfectionism, that I want to say a huge thank you to the author and those who posted it here!
anon/ 03/17/2014 Can you summarize it in a few words?
Oleg/ 12/24/2013 The book should help a person understand, first of all, himself. The fact is that many problems are actually far-fetched, and there is no self-deception if you replace pessimistic ideas with realistic ones. The book does not solve everyday problems, this is not a genie from the bottle, but it helps to set yourself up with the right thoughts that help solve most problems
1212 / 10/4/2013 Can anyone tell me how long it takes for this to start working?
Andrey/ 08/3/2013 Valery, study cognitive psychology, then you will really see what is self-deception and what is not =))
Anon/ 07/07/2013 I didn’t finish reading it and quit.
The book is good, but there is an awful lot of water in it. The main principle is cognitive therapy, the conclusion of which is to correct the perception of the world. Roughly speaking, the essence of the book is considered to be the following idea: “Let's just change our bad thoughts for good ones! The heart of depression is distorted thoughts and a completely incorrect perception of the world, i.e. we don't look at it from the very perspective the best side. We suffer not because of problems, but because of our own thoughts, which need to be corrected.”
Elena/ 08/25/2012 Self-deception has nothing to do with it, you had to read the book carefully. The essence of cognitive therapy is to change thinking from “passive” to adequate. The difference is that depressive thinking turns everything that happens to a person into causes for suffering. This book cured me of 4 years of depression, although it took me about 8 months of daily practice of writing down dysfunctional thoughts and replacing them with more realistic ones to learn to respond to circumstances adequately.
Danil/ 10/8/2011 “self-deception” - this is a statement, lol. I will only say that the problems lie in our attitude to the situation and the model of reality lies in the same plane of perception. I mean, our problems and adversities, successes and joys depend on the ability to abstract from the bad and devalue the negative. Take control of your emotions and everything bad will not weigh so heavily, especially during all kinds of age crises. I haven’t read the book, but I also noticed in the reviews that it is intended for the American consumer of such content, although this technique is also described in domestic publications.
Valery/ 09.24.2011 Collection of exercises on self-deception. The author does not set out to help solve problems; he by default assumes that you don’t actually have problems, but that you’re just not thinking correctly. You just need to convince yourself that what is bad is actually good. But reality will not change because of this and your problems will remain with you.
Maria/ 05/25/2011 I advise everyone to read it!
An excellent book that helps improve well-being and calm the nervous system.
Excellent tests. Real advice for all occasions.
Any problems with well-being affect our quality of life. No one can be at their most productive, happy and cheerful when something is hurting. But, as you know, our well-being is a mirror reflection of our health. Therefore, in order to feel good, you need to take care, first of all, of your health. In this article we will look at 12 tips that will help you feel good.
1. Water will help you maintain your well-being at a decent level. If you experience a lack of fluid, first of all, blood viscosity will increase, and at the same time blood circulation will deteriorate. This will lead to oxygen starvation, will make you weak, lethargic, drowsy. Therefore, carry a water bottle with you everywhere and don’t forget to replenish it, especially if it’s hot outside.
2. Try to gradually reduce the amount of salt you consume. The fact is that salt promotes fluid retention in the body, which is why it does not have time to cleanse itself in a timely manner. If you constantly consume a lot of salt, then over time you may need to detoxify in a hospital, not to mention the fact that this is a huge burden on the kidneys. The accumulation of toxins leads to deterioration in health, increased irritability, drowsiness.
3. Many doctors still claim that the sun is extremely harmful and dangerous for our health, but in fact, it is impossible to live without it. This is shown by the results of recent studies, which prove the positive effect of sunlight on the functioning of the endocrine and nervous systems, in case of moderate contact. Therefore, do not deprive yourself of the opportunity to receive energy and health from this heavenly body. Besides wellness, Sun rays They will also provide you with a great mood and a beautiful tan.
4. Balanced diet- this is the most best diet in the world. Which you can only imagine. It doesn’t matter whether you are a vegan or a vegetarian, a meat eater or a supporter of fruits, in any case, you can correctly structure your diet to get the required amount of proteins, fats and carbohydrates, seasoned with vitamins, minerals, fatty acids and other vital components.
5. Don’t blame yourself for wanting to sleep or being too sleepy during the day. You have nothing to do with it, and your laziness is also not a reason for self-condemnation. Your body simply needs to recover, and there is no way without it. Moreover, he needs to do this regularly, that is, daily. Healthy sleep should be moderately long, deep and strong. Therefore, create all the conditions for yourself and find opportunities to get enough sleep if you want to feel good.
6. Very often you can hear the statement that all diseases are caused by nerves. This is partly true. Every stress does not pass without leaving a trace on our body. After suffering strong stressful situations, you will feel exhausted, exhausted and empty. To prevent this from happening, you need to learn how to manage stress in your life.
7. One of the most common reasons feeling unwell - reduced level hemoglobin in the blood. Determining this is quite simple - you just need to pass general analysis blood. If the deficiency is serious, the doctor will prescribe treatment, and if not, you can restore the composition of the blood with the help of food. Liver, hematogen, vitamin C (citruses, apples, berries), beef - all this should be included in your diet to prevent anemia.
8. We all know from childhood that movement is life. But over the years, for some reason, many people are less and less active. Due to lack of movement, many problems overtake our body, and all because muscle contractions are the only “pump” for lymph, which is a “tool” of the immune system. Move more and you are guaranteed to feel good!
9. An equally important component of good health are positive emotions. Laughter prolongs life, and it's true. Dejection, resentment and other destructive feelings have a detrimental effect on our well-being and health. But there is good news - we ourselves have the right to decide what emotions our lives will be filled to a greater extent.
10. It is worth limiting your sugar intake, especially in the afternoon. This is "energy" for our nervous system, and therefore, overconsumption sugar depletes the brain, in addition, it is a burden on the digestive organs.
11. Take care to strengthen your immune system. Do hardening - it's not difficult. Good for starters cold and hot shower, walking barefoot. When you feel ready, you can roll out naked in the snow. It is also useful to use antibiotics as little as possible and antivirals. Nature has given us a lot of natural medicines - use them. Honey, raspberries, lemons, herbs are safe, and in most cases no less effective.
12. Use the experience of your ancestors for your health and well-being. Not since yesterday, the bathhouse has been used to cleanse the body, prevent diseases, and improve health. A weekly visit to the sauna will give you back your energy and joy of life!
