Try this instead, Tao Cycle Therapy: Natural Happiness via Self Directed Cure for Chronic Anxiety & Depression [Updated 2008 3nd Edition]

A Practical Alternative, Tao Cycle Therapy: Natural Happiness via Self Directed Cure for Chronic Anxiety & Depression [Updated 2008 3nd Edition]

You want to be a better person? You want to measure how much you're in control of yourself? Want to better understand how your thoughts, moods, and environment have such an impact on your actions or how you respond in any given situation, then this is the book to get. This book is pwerful and very helpful. Lets face it, although we all think we are our best self, but the biggest room in the house is the room for improvement.

I am really enjoying this workbook. You have to have an open mind, and be self aware, but it is a book worth reading!

This is a great read, especially for anyone who's dealt with depression. I've gone through it myself, and this book helped me a lot!

Thank you for getting the several copies of Mind Over Mood to me. They were new, as described. Thanks you!

This book was recommended by my phychologist. He couldn't have been more right on. This is the first real help I have had in solving a lot of anxiety and stress in my life. It is so down to earth on what we know but what we so easily overlook in our fix for the human condition. The work pages allow you to really personalize the advice. I would buy it again and I would recommend to all who want to improve their life.

This book is a wonderful to take charge of the twists and turns of your mind. I have found that through discipline and practice, I have a healthier outlook and less anxiety. This book really breaks things down very simply so I could understand them and apply them to my life. I highly recommend it!

into the life of a gifted psychiatrist I recommend That's How the Light Gets In: Memoir of a Psychiatrist by Susan Rako, M.D. The title comes from a song by Leonard Cohen: "There is a crack, a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in." Rako's book is fascinating, illuminating, and wonderfully well-written. The writing just flows.

This book has some really great concepts that used alone I might not be willing or emotionally strong enough to do. My therapist helps to motivate me and to talk about what leads my current status of modd over my mind.

Recommend.

The exercises are worth a try! I have bipolar and until this book did not realize how many negative assumptions I was making about what others thought and felt about me. I've found it incredibly helpful, and led me to see a Cognitive Behavioral Therapist. The right meds ARE essential,
using a thearpist is great, and yet I come back to this book to do exercises from time to time for an immediate lift in my mood after a difficult situation has occurred. This book could help most anyone, not just those suffering mental health conditions. -bipolar II

The book takes a no nonsense approach in teaching what causes negative emotions and how to look at a problem and figuring out the emotions that are causing the thoughts and feelings. It's a wonderful book to use along with therapy.

Helps you realize that maybe you are "over" thinking

After you write down your rational thoughts then you feel much better

Very good book. Easy to read for all age groups. Gives the reader tools and exercises to actually use. Will definitely recommend.

My friend, who is a doctor in psychology, suggested I read this book as I was dealing with anger and anxiety. I would just get so stressed out about little things (computer not working, paperwork to file, life stuff!). I have read half of it so far, and already my life (and my husband's life!) has improved so much! The worksheets really help uncover the reason behind the emotion (mood) and from there it is easier to change. I borrowed the book from the library and am planning on buying it now as I will most likely refer back to it over and over.
If your emotions tend to take over, I highly suggest you read this book!

I am very pleased with this book. I'm only two chapters in but I like it so far. It was recommended as a workbook by my therapist. Easy to read. I do recommend.

The principles it expounds are sound and the practices it prescribes are effective and beneficial. In a nutshell: it works.

That said, we are fortunate to have a better alternative for an individual who wishes to self-treat, without the assistance of a therapist. The magisterial book, _The Feeling Good Handbook_, by David D. Burns is one of those once-in-a-lifetime works which has no peer.

Both books share the same perspective on changing how you feel. As other reviewers have mentioned, _Mind Over Mood_'s basic tool is called a "thought record." You are instructed to change the way you think by writing down your thoughts and feelings in the thought record. You then identify the evidence for and against your thoughts. You conclude by writing a more balanced view of things.

The primary method of the thought record is looking at the evidence which supports or conflicts with your thoughts.

The basic tool of Burns's book is called a "daily mood log." This tool bears some resemblance to the thought record but there are subtle differences. Whereas Greenberger and Padesky have you critique your thoughts solely in terms of the evidence for and against them, Burns provides you with a more varied toolbox. He has identified a list of ways that we systematically distort our thinking. For example, we might get down on ourselves or others by using the words "should," or "must," or "ought." I might feel bad when I tell myself that "I should have turned left instead of right when I got off the highway." A more balanced thought would be, "I would have preferred that I had turned left and I can accept myself for having turned right." When I develop the habit of examining my thoughts and replacing them with more balanced thoughts, my mood brightens.

I currently am following Greenberger and Padesky's method in that I have done at least one of their thought records daily for 60 days. I haven't done one of Burns's daily mood logs for a few years. But I found Burns's mood logs to be a better method for improving my mood and I plan on rereading Burns's book soon.

_Mind Over Mood_ is an excellent book. I recommend you read it and practice it. If you could only buy one book, I would recommend you buy Burns's book. But most of us have the ability to buy more than one book and _Mind Over Mood_ is certainly worth studying.

The principles it expounds are sound and the practices it prescribes are effective and beneficial. In a nutshell: it works.

That said, we are fortunate to have a better alternative for an individual who wishes to self-treat, without the assistance of a therapist. The magisterial book, _The Feeling Good Handbook_, by David D. Burns is one of those once-in-a-lifetime works which has no peer.

Both books share the same perspective on changing how you feel. As other reviewers have mentioned, _Mind Over Mood_'s basic tool is called a "thought record." You are instructed to change the way you think by writing down your thoughts and feelings in the thought record. You then identify the evidence for and against your thoughts. You conclude by writing a more balanced view of things.

The primary method of the thought record is looking at the evidence which supports or conflicts with your thoughts.

The basic tool of Burns's book is called a "daily mood log." This tool bears some resemblance to the thought record but there are subtle differences. Whereas Greenberger and Padesky have you critique your thoughts solely in terms of the evidence for and against them, Burns provides you with a more varied toolbox. He has identified a list of ways that we systematically distort our thinking. For example, we might get down on ourselves or others by using the words "should," or "must," or "ought." I might feel bad when I tell myself that "I should have turned left instead of right when I got off the highway." A more balanced thought would be, "I would have preferred that I had turned left and I can accept myself for having turned right." When I develop the habit of examining my thoughts and replacing them with more balanced thoughts, my mood brightens.

I currently am following Greenberger and Padesky's method in that I have done at least one of their thought records daily for 60 days. I haven't done one of Burns's daily mood logs for a few years. But I found Burns's mood logs to be a better method for improving my mood and I plan on rereading Burns's book soon.

_Mind Over Mood_ is an excellent book. I recommend you read it and practice it. If you could only buy one book, I would recommend you buy Burns's book. But most of us have the ability to buy more than one book and _Mind Over Mood_ is certainly worth studying.

I love this book! It is a great resource and very easy to follow. It has helped me tremendously. Teresa

I am currently working with the book in conjunction with CBT (Cognitive behaviour Therapy) I was reccommended the book by my therapist. I am finding the book extremely helpful . I think everyone should have a copy whether they are working on themselves with a professional or not. I am learning new life skills. Excellent stuff

My Psychologist recommended this book to me. I ordered it the next day and received it within the week. It has helped me tremendously. I would recommend it to anyone who suffers from depression or any other mood disorder. I would also suggest that a loved one of someone described above read this book also.

After years of therapy that helped a little, this book finally transformed my life. Instead of just learning to deal with my crazy anxieties, I was finally able to eliminate them. I am now a firm believer in cognitive behavioral therapy. This book provides easy exercises that work - to teach you how to change your life by changing your thoughts, one at a time.

I recommend this book to anyone and everyone and will continue to do so.

After years of therapy that helped a little, this book finally transformed my life. Instead of just learning to deal with my crazy anxieties, I was finally able to eliminate them. I am now a firm believer in cognitive behavioral therapy. This book provides easy exercises that work - to teach you how to change your life by changing your thoughts, one at a time.

I recommend this book to anyone and everyone and will continue to do so.

It requires some patience and thinking you're worth the effort, but following this book's guidelines is powerful.

I used this book in college when I was struggling with depression. It helped me to locate the sources of my moods and slowly change my thinking patterns. I have since recommended it to a handful of other people who have all said it helped them tremendously. I bought this copy for my grandmother. The book works for all ages.

This is a very operable book giving detail steps to see clearly what is behind our emotions, how we get there, and how we can change to a more balanced, and realistic view so that our emotion can be uplifting.

This is a very operable book giving detail steps to see clearly what is behind our emotions, how we get there, and how we can change to a more balanced, and realistic view so that our emotion can be uplifting.

I've read many CBT self-help books both as a mental health professional and a sufferer of depression. What this book fails to recognise are my feelings as a human being. My feelings are not simply a direct reaction to my thoughts but are direct responses to the world. Mind Over Mood suggests that all I need do is 'reprogram' my thinking (as if I'm some computer!) and I'll feel better. But 'bad' feelings often tell us that there is something wrong in our world and if we continue changing what Padesky calls 'negative cognitions' then we fail to value either ourselves as accurate perceptors of an often damaging world, whilst we remain passive citizens who do not act to change what is wrong in society, the relationship, the family etc.

Clients and patients need to recognise that their experiences are not 'dysfunctional' just because CBT says they are. All experiences have meaning and are rooted in a context. There is not substitute for seeking the support of a well trained, sensitive psychotherapist (I don't mean a CBT therapist) before using such books to 'reprogram' yourself. Remember, you're a person, not a piece of computer software!

Procedure sometimes a little obscure, but overall an excellent reference for the mind over mood enthusiast.Positive feedback

Excellent work book , have already started using this with our client base.

I began using this book after I fired my last therapist, and I have found it to be very helpful. The book gives its readers a series of structured exercises to help readers think rationally about their emotions and get a control on them. As with any self-help book, its limitation is that the reader has to muster the will to actually do what the book instructs. But once one accepts that, I think one will find that the exercises are very thoughtfully and persuasively built to confront the emotional problems one may be having.

Relax and read with an open mind and you will be changed for the better for life. Real tools that can be used with little effort and become second nature. If you feel bad most of the time and want to feel better, then read this book.

This book deals in depression and was one I truly needed. It has helped me so much words can't describe. An excellent book.


Author of
The Truth aboutt
Cafffeine

This book deals in depression and was one I truly needed. It has helped me so much words can't describe. An excellent book.

Author of
THE TRUTH
ABOUT CAFFEINE

This book uses case studies from people who entered therapy which makes the book clear and easy to understand. This tool has improved my life 10 folds.


Kushner, M
A u t h o r
Truth about Caffeine, The Truth About Caffeine: How Companies That Promote It Deceive Us and What We Can Do about It

I have had issues dealing with past emotional pains and while I have not yet gone through this whole book, I am definately finding help and a greater understanding of my problems through the portions that I have gone over. I cannot wait to finish this and to see my complete transformation from a person who just floats from mood to mood without taking resposibility for them, to a person who is aware and is taking responsibility for her emotional destiny.

You don't need a degree to understand the author. The book is written in a easy do understand language. Everything in it is common sense. Not much is really new, but the key is to stop, pay attention, and use your common sense in a consistent fashion. For me, it is a very helpful, insightful, and practical workbook. If you are looking for a cognitive therapy supplemental workbook, I recommend "Mind Over Mood" without hesitation. Another great book to add to it is "Can We Live 150 Year?"

You don't need a degree to understand the author. The book is written in a easy do understand language. Everything in it is common sense. Not much is really new, but the key is to stop, pay attention, and use your common sense in a consistent fashion. For me, it is a very helpful, insightful, and practical workbook. If you are looking for a cognitive therapy supplemental workbook, I recommend "Mind Over Mood" without hesitation. Another great book to add to it is "Can We Live 150 Year?"

EXCELLENT BOOK

This book is very practical for people who are in therapy. They can make practical excersises which are easy and make them understand the goal.

I've been doing behavioral practices that have helped me break bad habits, establish good habits and reduce procrastination. It's taken me years to do that on my own. But, no matter how much I do, I find, especially at work, that dealing with people can upset me. They may not see it, but it sets me worrying. Although I cope and try to focus on actions, I wanted to learn to address worrisome thoughts and bad feelings. I'd read that cognitive therapy could do that.

I finished going thru "Mind Over Mood", reading it and doing the exercises for a week after finishing an initial reading of the book. The material is presented extremely well. The authors had obviously been at this for a long time before writing the book. They clearly are focused on being clear. In no way at all do they seem like they are trying to sell themselves or just push the material on the reader.

Is the system too elaborate for practical use? I'm patient. Tne worksheet, "Thought Record", seems enough to start with and to cover much of what is needed in any event. The other worksheets appear to follow logically from the "Thought Record": the connections make good sense. The ten or so worksheets are each pretty simple. Most of the worksheets don't seem like they would need to be used often. So it appears to me that the authors have made a great effort to select and design worksheets that I (and you) can use comfortably. Samples are provided as a guide.

Will it work for me? So far I don't know. The worksheets I've done (mostly Thought Rewards) seems a little useful at the time and I may be seeing a difference beyond that short while that I'm filling out the worksheets.

So far I've tried this book and David Burn's "Feeling Good". This one seems much more usable. I'll continue to try using the "Mind Over Mood" worksheets: it seems as if it is more helpful than just giving myself space and sorting things out myself. Each time I do a "Thought Record" I have no trouble identifying a hot thought, listing evidence for and against, and finding some balanced thoughts. When I re-rate my moods, they do seem somewhat improved and overall I feel somewhat better. So I plan to continue with this book and its worksheets.

I've been doing behavioral practices that have helped me break bad habits, establish good habits and reduce procrastination. It's taken me years to do that on my own. But, no matter how much I do, I find, especially at work, that dealing with people can upset me. They may not see it, but it sets me worrying. Although I cope and try to focus on actions, I wanted to learn to address worrisome thoughts and bad feelings. I'd read that cognitive therapy could do that, but until now I didn't have hope that it would really work for me.

I just finished going thru "Mind Over Mood", reading it and doing the exercises. The material is presented extremely well. The authors had obviously been at this for a long time before writing the book. They clearly are focused on being clear. In no way at all do they seem like they are trying to sell themselves or just push the material on the reader. These are true teachers.

Is the system too elaborate? I don't think so. One worksheet, the "Thought Record" seems enough to start with and to cover much of what is needed in any event. The other worksheets follow logically from the "Thought Record": the connections make good sense. The ten or so worksheets are each pretty simple. Most of the worksheets don't seem like they would need to be used often. So it appears to me that the authors have made a great effort to select and design worksheets that I (and you) can use comfortably. I feel like I've benefited already just by doing the learning exercises. The samples in the book are an excellent guide.

Will it work for me? I'll find out. On the one hand, it seems that feeling and worrisome thoughts aren't that controllable. On the other hand, I know there are times when sound thinking and repeating self-hypnotic suggestions can steady me and help my confidence.

I had largely given up on cognitive therapy after finding David Burns' "Feeling Good" book unhelpful. But now I feel I have a fighting chance thanks to this well-designed, compassionate book. Even though I haven't had a chance yet to put it to the test, I'm giving it 5 stars because it offers me a real chance to try cognitive therapy and to address my worries.

You don't need a degree to understand the author. It is written in a easy do understand language. Everything in this book is common sense. Nothing is really new. But the key is to stop, pay attention, and use your common sense in a consistent fashion. For me, it is a very helpful, insightful, and practical workbook. If you are looking for a cognitive therapy supplemental workbook, I recommend "Mind Over Mood" without reservation. Another great book to add to the package and save on shipping is "Can We Live 150 Year?"

I cannot recommend this book highly enough. Together with medication, the exercises in Mind Over Mood helped me recover from severe depression. They teach you to recognise unhelpful thoughts you have about yourself or others and challenge them, which has a big impact on mood. There are also chapters on making action plans, dealing with guilt and shame, monitoring your progress, and tackling deep-seated beliefs. I began using this book in a therapy group, so it's hard to say how helpful it would be used purely as a self-help book, but the exercises are fairly simple and they do make a big difference. A "must buy" for anyone suffering from depression, anxiety disorders or perfectionism.

While I found this book helpful in understanding more about depression and anxiety, the "self-analysis" techniques it recommends are much too complicated. It attempts to classify and quantify intangibles such as moods and feelings to an impossible degree. For example, it divides moods into 25+ categories such as mad, happy, cheerful, angry, disgusted, panicky, etc. The problem here is defining the exact nature of a mood. Does "mad" or "disgusted" mean the same thing to everyone? Where does "mad" end and "angry" start? Can we really place a mood into a specific "box" that has precisely defined boundaries? Next, it attempts to rate the degree of each of these moods into a numerical scale ranging from 0 to 100. In other words, how much is "mad" is in our "mad" box"? While this approach to the problem may give it the appearance of "science", it is more akin to becoming excruciatingly exact about gross approximations.
The next question is whether the person afflicted with either depression or anxiety can actually view his/her situation impartially from the outside looking in? Highly doubtful! Most likely, the sufferer is "standing too close to the trees to see the forest". Finally, the sheer volume of record keeping suggested by the author is overwhelming. This may work for some, but in my case it simply aggravates my frustration which in turn elevates my anxiety level.
While some of these techniques may prove helpful to professionals and possibly to certain individual cases, they have not been helpful to me. Sorry, but the best I can do is give it the benefit of the doubt with a mid-range rating.

Hey guys,

I've NEVER EVER written a review in my life for a book or anything before. I wasn't about to start but after seeing that 1 star from that "Helen" fellow; I had to jump in. It's people like that who expect a magic pill type "Silver Bullet" INSTANT CURE that give everyone else false hopes.

Therapy is hard. Your negative and distorted thoughts cause your suffering. To be "CURED" you have to learn to talk back to your negative thoughts. Talking back to your negative thoughts is hard and painful at times.

At some point, you are going to have to make peace with all the anger, hostility, anxiety, resentment, worthlessness, guilt, shame, hopelessness by bringing those POWERFUL emotions into your conscious awareness. If it was easy, everyone would be able to do it on their own and Therapists would be out of work.

Here's what's worked for me. I used this "WORK"book in conjunction with the the following
1. 10 days to self-esteem by David Burns
2. The feeling good handbook by David Burns

Using those 3 books for about 4 months on my own I would say, I saw about a 40% imporvement. When I got all I could out of these books on my own, I sought the help of a competent therapist.

[...]

If you live far away, you may have to travel a little bit. I live about 2 hours from philly and so I have to put aside 5 to 6 hours every week. 5 hours travel time and 1 hour for the therapy session. Your situation may be better/worse than mine but if I can do it, so can you. YOU HAVE OPTIONS !!!

BUT, EVERYTHING HAS A PRICE. If you do the exercies, you will see results. I GUARANTEE YOU. Get this book first and do the exercies. Then get the other two books that I mentioned above. After you get everything out of them that you can, move on to the next level. One of the biggest things that therapists struggle with is patients with conflicting drives. On one level, they want to change but on another level they don't.

If you do the exercises in these books, and if you still need additional help/coaching; when you do go to see a therapist, you will progress at a ridiculous speed (6 months max) simply because you'll already understand the basics and that extra nudge from a caring and competent professional will put you over the top. There won't be anything slowing you down.

Hope this helps and above all, KEEP YOUR EXPECTATIONS REALISTIC.

I was very disappointed with the content and layout of this book. The amount of wasted pages for 'workspace' is excessive, but considering the lack of true content, I assume they needed to fill pages with something.

Our spouses group purchased this item to donate it to a Psycology Clinic at our local hospital. The clinic was very excited to receive it since they specifically requested this book.

After years in therapy and various methods (Freudian, Jungian, etc.), it was finally Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) that helped me stop the negative, worrying (a facet of anxiety) voices that blared incessantly in my mind.

I can not recommend this book enough. Its simple exercises will have you seeing the fallacy of your thoughts, which are what determine your mood. The book (and CBT's) superbly simplistic idea is that your THOUGHTS are what control your MOODS. Control your thoughts, and you control your moods. But before we can do this, we have to slow down enough to take the time to see where our thoughts are coming from. This book and its exercises help us find where we are simply WRONG in the thoughts we have about ourselves which lead to depressed or anxious mood.

These exercises will help you determine your "hot thoughts," (automatic thoughts you hold about yourself that are linked to depressed/anxious mood), will help you examine evidence for and against your thoughts, and then help you use this evidence to create NEW THOUGHTS which ought to in turn help you create NEW MOODS.

These techniques are amazingly simple but also incredibly powerful. If you feel stuck in "talk therapy" analysis and can not seem to change the way you think about yourself, this book is for you! However, you should also seek a trained COGNITIVE BEHAVIORAL THERAPIST to teach you the techniques to literally CHANGE your thought process.

Anxiety and depression are more and more common in our society, and much of what causes these mood disturbances is our incorrect/unfounded thoughts about ourselves. Once we learn to manage our thoughts, we learn to change our mood. This book and what it teaches is life-changing.

If there was ever a book that could change your life, this is one of them. It's so practical, insightful, intelligent, and useful. It has had a big influence on myself, and on my outlook on life. I love the way the authors (Dr's Greenberger and Padesky) use complete and incomplete thought records to "teach" the reader how to do it for him/herself. It has truly been of great help to me in recognizing my own patterns of distorted thinking as well as the "alternative/balanced" thinking which has helped to improve my mood on several occasions. I consider it one of those rare gems that helps the reader to "see the light" (as a true friend would) without forcing it upon him/her.