Mind Over Mood: Change How You Feel by Changing the Way You Think

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It) teaches you strategies, methods, and skills that have been shown to be helpful with mood problems such as depression, anxiety, anger, panic, jealousy, guilt, and shame.’ Winner (Second Place)--American Journal of Nursing Book of the Year Award, Consumer Health Category Based on over 40 years of front-line research, this renowned book provides clinically proven strategies to help you manage your mind and the emotions that can so easily destroy your quality of life. Drs. Greenberger and Padesky show how your thoughts affect your feelings and teach step-by-step skills so you can free yourself from painful moods. The first edition of this book was a classic--the second edition is even better, and will be a trusted guide for even more people across the globe."--Mark Williams, DPhil, coauthor of The Mindful Way Workbook Be patient. Learning to do thought records probably takes about as much mental coordination as learning to ride a bike takes physical coordination. For beginners, it can be difficult just to distinguish between situations, emotions, and thoughts – much less identify automatic thoughts, figure out which is the hot thought, and collect and evaluate evidence. Be patient and keep at it. Thought records get easier as you go, and over time they become second nature.

The book includes worksheets and practical exercises to recognise and alter negative thought processes. Some of the ‘behavioural experiments’ may seem repetitive and cumbersome, so an ‘approach with perseverance’ attitude is worth adopting. Over a million people have used Mind Over Mood to alleviate--and in many cases eliminate--the suffering caused by depression and other psychological problems. Drs. Greenberger and Padesky are brilliant therapists whose thoroughly updated second edition is informed by the latest research and therapeutic innovations. Science has demonstrated incontrovertibly that changing the way we think about emotional situations is among the most powerful ways to change emotions themselves. Everyone struggling with challenging moods or emotions should read this book."--David H. Barlow, PhD, ABPP, coauthor of 10 Steps to Mastering Stress British Journal of General Practice is an editorially-independent publication of the Royal College of General Practitioners Discover simple yet powerful steps you can take to overcome emotional distress—and feel happier, calmer, and more confident. Cited as “The Most Influential Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy Publication” by the British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies. Find this bookI suffer from anxiety. This book was recently recommended to me by my regular family doctor to see if I could change my negative thoughts into more positive ones. I don't feel any different now that I've read it. Let’s say your hot thought is I’m always screwing up, and let’s say you had that thought after making a fairly minor mistake. These statements would be considered “credible evidence”: Negative thinking about the world is a style of thinking in which we notice and remember negative aspects of our experiences more vividly than positive or neutral events.

Automatic Thoughts (and Images): List thoughts and images that pop up in relation to the situation. These thoughts can be so automatic that we don’t even know we’re thinking them. You can start by trying to remember what was going on in your mind right before your mood shifted. Here are a few typical examples of automatic thoughts:Dr. Dennis Greenberger is a clinical psychologist and founder and director of the Anxiety and Depression Center in Newport Beach, California. That last one may seem out of place, but I included it because I wanted to point out that you can do thought records for positive as well as negative situations. Contrary to popular belief, CBT isn’t about “positive thinking.” It’s about finding more balanced and objective ways of seeing the world – which in some cases might actually mean seeing things less positively. For example, say you meet a new romantic prospect, and within a few days you’re thinking “This person is perfect for me!” and “I’ve finally found the love of my life!” That’s a case where a little less optimism would probably be a good thing. One of the most borrowed books in 2008 according to the Guardian Newspaper (United Kingdom). They listed it as #7 in their non fiction popularity poll Winner (Second Place)— American Journal of Nursing Book of the Year Award, Consumer Health Category In 2002, the British Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Psychotherapy named Mind Over Mood: Change How You Feel by Changing the Way You Think the most influential cognitive therapy book of all time

Repeated practice filling out Thought Records actually helps you learn to think more flexibly. After completing 20 – 40 thought records, many people report that they automatically begin to think alternative or balanced thoughts in distressing situations without writing out a Thought Record. When you reach this point, you will experience fewer and fewer situations as truly distressing, and you can spend your energy on solving what problems remain and on enjoying yourself in more situations.” Who would enjoy this book?To get personal: I have noticed some lasting differences. I’m not free of depression / bipolar, but I used to be more self-conscious and now I’m not as harsh on myself. For that I’m grateful. Once you have your list of thoughts, identify the hot thought. The hot thought is the one with the most “juice” or “charge,” the one most strongly linked to your mood. Circle the hot thought. This is the “defendant” you are going to put on trial. I found this book at a garage sale and thought it would be a great addition to my work resources! I went through it cover to cover and tried all of the exercises myself. Really enjoyed this workbook. I won’t lie and tell you the thought record is an easy or fun tool to learn. I once did a thought record in which my stressful situation in Step 1 was filling out a thought record! Changing your thinking is a process that takes time, awareness, and energy. But the payoff for your hard work is profound – you can actually restructure the way your mind works (in fact, in CBT the process of changing your habitual ways of thinking is called cognitive restructuring). Over time you’ll automatically think in more balanced ways and have less extreme moods. Your usual hot thoughts either won’t arise, or you’ll dismiss or dispute them as soon as they rear their head. Alternative/Balanced Thoughts: In this step, you switch to the role of judge. Weigh the evidence from both sides, and try to reach a fair and unbiased “verdict.” In other words, come up with a new thought or thoughts that represent a more balanced and realistic perspective. For example, in the I’m always screwing up case, you might draw these conclusions.

I have used Mind Over Mood in my clinical work with patients for 20 years and have found that the second edition is even more helpful than the first. It is a great book for adults and not such a great book for kids, as it is not written at their level, and as the clinical vignettes are about adults with adult problems. Mind Over Mood is an amazing resource that any adult could benefit from reading and practicing the exercises it contains. The worksheets in the book can be a helpful resource to work on with a therapist trained in CBT, especially because it can be hard for people to effectively complete a thought record on their own.

Cited as “The Most Influential Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy Publication” by the British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies and included in the UK National Health Service Bibliotherapy Program. Dr. Christine Padesky is a clinical psychologist and co-founder of the Center for Cognitive Therapy in Huntington Beach, California, and co-creator of Strengths-Based CBT. General description Revised and expanded to reflect significant scientific developments of the past 20 years, the second edition contains numerous new features: expanded content on anxiety; chapters on setting personal goals and maintaining progress; happiness rating scales; gratitude journals; innovative exercises focused on mindfulness, acceptance, and forgiveness; 25 new worksheets; and much more.