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

Description

Most self-help books focus on a single topic - a problem, disorder, or life-change goal - and offer readers strategies designed to help them make progress on whatever that topic might be. If you're depressed, get a book on depression. Afraid of heights? There's a book just for you. But the fact is that human problems rarely boil down to a single topic: Few of us are ever just depressed, just anxious, or just inclined to eat too much at dinner. It's far more likely that we want to shake the blues and stop worrying about the bills and learn how to be develop healthy eating habits, and ...the list goes on. Fortunately, some self-help books take a broader approach, one that is as comprehensive and flexible as the problems we all struggle with every day. "Thoughts and Feelings" is such a book. It adapts the powerful and widely adaptable techniques of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) into a set of tools readers can use, not to solve a particular problem, but to overcome any of the emotional and behavioural changes that life throws their way. CBT recognizes that most negative feelings arise from confused, irrational thoughts. By learning to identify and change these thoughts and by replacing destructive and limiting behaviors with new, more constructive ones, readers can start steering their lives in the direction they want to go. Changes to this new edition include revisions and updates to the core CBT chapters as well as a new chapter on how to use mindfulness to bring focus and intention to the process of change.

Matthew McKay, PhD, is a professor at the Wright Institute in Berkeley, CA. He has authored and coauthored numerous books, including The Relaxation and Stress Reduction Workbook, Self-Esteem, Thoughts and Feelings, When Anger Hurts, and ACT on Life Not on Anger. He has also penned two fiction novels, Us and The Wawona Hotel. McKay received his PhD in clinical psychology from the California School of Professional Psychology, and specializes in the cognitive behavioral treatment of anxiety and depression. He lives and works in the Bay Area.

Chock full of systematic strategies for the treatment of a wide variety of psychological problems. Eminently readable and helpful for professionals as well as patients. --Aaron T. Beck, MD, president of the Beck Institute for Cognitive Therapy and Research Psychopathology An outstanding book. I recommend it without reservation for both general readers and therapists. It stands apart from other similar books in its reliance on scientific data, not fad, hype, or mysticism. --Jacqueline B. Persons, Ph.D., director of the San Francisco Bay Area Center for Cognitive Therapy and associate clinical professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of California, Berkeley An excellent resource, reference tool, treatment manual, therapy coach, and compendium of techniques. --Arthur Freeman, Ed.D., ABPP, HSPP, president of the Freeman Institute for Cognitive Therapy and director of clinical training and supervision for the Center for Brief Therapy, PC, in Fort Wayne, IN, and chair emeritus and professor of psychology at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine One of the most comprehensive and empirically sound guidebooks in all of self-help literature. All of the major problems in living are covered. --Cory F. Newman, Ph.D., clinical director of the Center for Cognitive Therapy and associate professor of psychology in psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania For professionals and the public, this wonderful workbook, like a wise teacher, can help make a positive difference. --Thomas F. Cash, Ph.D. A jewel of a book: supportive and empathetic, short on platitudes and long on practical applications. A must-buy for all cognitive-behavioral therapists. --Thomas E. Ellis, Psy.D., ABPP, professor of psychology at Marshall University in Huntington, WV Chock full of systematic strategies for the treatment of a wide variety of psychological problems. Eminently readable and helpful for professionals as well as patients. Aaron T. Beck, MD, president of the Beck Institute for Cognitive Therapy and Research Psychopathology An outstanding book. I recommend it without reservation for both general readers and therapists. It stands apart from other similar books in its reliance on scientific data, not fad, hype, or mysticism. Jacqueline B. Persons, Ph.D., director of the San Francisco Bay Area Center for Cognitive Therapy and associate clinical professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of California, Berkeley An excellent resource, reference tool, treatment manual, therapy coach, and compendium of techniques. Arthur Freeman, Ed.D., ABPP, HSPP, president of the Freeman Institute for Cognitive Therapy and director of clinical training and supervision for the Center for Brief Therapy, PC, in Fort Wayne, IN, and chair emeritus and professor of psychology at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine One of the most comprehensive and empirically sound guidebooks in all of self-help literature. All of the major problems in living are covered. Cory F. Newman, Ph.D., clinical director of the Center for Cognitive Therapy and associate professor of psychology in psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania For professionals and the public, this wonderful workbook, like a wise teacher, can help make a positive difference. Thomas F. Cash, Ph.D. A jewel of a book: supportive and empathetic, short on platitudes and long on practical applications. A must-buy for all cognitive-behavioral therapists. Thomas E. Ellis, Psy.D., ABPP, professor of psychology at Marshall University in Huntington, WV"