Feeling Good: Overcome Depression and Anxiety with Proven Techniques

by David D. Burns

Dr. Beck found that depressed patients see themselves as deficient in the very qualities they value most highly: intelligence, achievement, popularity, attractiveness, health, and strength.

depressed self-image can be characterized by the four D’s: You feel Defeated, Defective, Deserted, and Deprived.

on you? What then? ERIC: Then I would feel miserable. DAVID: Why? Why is it that you would

The great majority of depressed individuals are in fact very much loved, but it doesn’t help one bit because self-love and self-esteem are missing. At the bottom line, only your own sense of self-worth determines how you feel.

In practical terms the study indicated that during periods of depression you lose some of your capacity for clear thinking;

depressed and miserable you feel, the more twisted your thinking becomes. And, conversely, in the absence of mental distortion, you cannot

goal for monthly sales is acceptable. Ninety-four percent or below

Prolonged silences during therapy sessions may cause you to become more upset and preoccupied with your critical internal voice—much like a sensory-deprivation experiment. This kind of nondirective therapy, in which the therapist adopts a passive role, frequently produces greater anxiety and depression for the patient.

significantly transformed the way you evaluate yourself and your life. Unless you substantially reverse your self-defeating thinking

ventilation of emotions and insight—the two staples of the standard psychotherapeutic diet—won’t help,

to take the first crucial step toward an improved mood and self-image.

One effective method for accomplishing this is the “triple-column technique.”

nice technique

As you work at the triple-column technique for fifteen minutes every day over a period of a month or two, you will find it gets easier and easier. Don’t be afraid to ask other people how they would answer an upsetting thought if you can’t figure out the appropriate rational response on your own.

work because I really am hopeless

Start by writing down your automatic thoughts and rational responses for fifteen minutes every day for two weeks and see the effect this has on your mood, as measured by the Burns Depression Checklist.

It is crucial to write down your automatic thoughts and rational responses; do not try to do the exercise in your head.

second method which can be very useful involves monitoring your negative thoughts with a wrist counter.

It is not known with certainty why such a simple technique works so well, but systematic self-monitoring frequently helps develop increased self-control.

NANCY: No. DAVID: Do you understand the point I’m trying to make? NANCY: Yep. DAVID: “Bad mother” is an abstraction; there is no such thing as a “bad mother” in this universe. NANCY: Right. But mothers can do bad things.

and depressed, and I don’t do anything productive.

So when you look at it that way, you’re talking about coping strategies. For example, what are your parenting

experiencing a blue mood, the chances are that you are telling yourself you are inherently inadequate or just plain “no good.” You will become convinced that you have a bad core or are essentially

worthless. To the extent that you believe such thoughts, you will experience a severe emotional reaction of despair

Your life therefore is an evolving experience, a continual flow. You are not a thing; that’s why any label is constricting, highly inaccurate, and global.

theory, and each is inaccurate! The first is a “trait” model; your inactivity is seen as a fixed personality trait and stems from your “lazy streak.” The problem with this theory is that it just labels the problem without explaining

you feel worse. The last theory—you must be getting some “payoff” from procrastination—reflects more recent, behaviorally oriented

people’s evaluations of you. 3. Overwhelming Yourself. There are several ways you may overwhelm yourself into doing nothing. You may magnify a task to the degree that it seems impossible to tackle. You may assume you must do everything at once instead of breaking each job down into small, discrete, manageable units which

“Anhedonia” is the technical name for a diminished ability to experience satisfaction and pleasure.

A common thinking error—your tendency to “disqualify the positive”—may be at the root of this problem. Do you

sense of exhilaration whenever a patient did well, and feel defeated and defective

nice technique

It was a great personal victory when I learned to evaluate my work based on the process rather than on the product.

let others down, you will naturally feel unmotivated to pursue your daily life. I recently treated a lonely elderly woman who spent her days in bed in spite of the fact that she felt better when she shopped, cooked, and socialized with her friends. Why? This sweet woman was holding herself responsible

from having asked too much of yourself, causing an imbalance in your “give-and-get” system. If so, take a few days of “vacation” and schedule only those things you want to do. If you adhere to the

you depressed and alone but you treat yourself in a way that can only inflict pain. Would you treat someone else in such a sadistic

the task will be easy, you can write down a low estimate such as 10 to 20 percent; for harder tasks,

thought. He found to his great surprise that it turned out to be easy and satisfying, and he felt sufficiently motivated that he went on to complete the

Talk back to these thoughts

Fantasize that you are still in that scene, and you have become a nonsmoker. Go through your list of benefits and repeat each one to yourself in the

Motivation does not come first, action does!

irritable, as if you were in a big hurry and didn’t give a damn about me. DAVID: Okay, I came across in

and agree with that, or you can acknowledge that the person’s upset is understandable because it is based on how

your intelligence has little, if anything, to do with your capacity for happiness. What I want to know is what your Irritability Quotient is.

You have a third option: Stop creating your anger. You don’t have to choose between holding it in or letting it out because it won’t exist.

What kinds of distortion occur most often when you are angry? One of the greatest offenders is labeling.

When you describe the person you’re mad at as “a jerk” or “a bum” or “a piece of shit,” you see him in a totally negative way. You could call this extreme form of overgeneralization “globalizing” or “monsterizing.”

Labeling inevitably functions as a self-fulfilling prophecy. You polarize the other person and bring about a state of interpersonal warfare.

Another distortion characteristic of anger-generating thoughts is mind reading—you invent motives that explains to your satisfaction why the other person did what he or she did.

The problem with these so-called explanations is that they are just additional labels that don’t really provide any valid information.

The third form of distortion that leads to anger is magnification.

Inappropriate should and shouldn’t statements represent the fourth type of distortion that feeds your anger.