Managing Depression with CBT For Dummies E-Book

Brian Thomson

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Ratgeber
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 245

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2012

Beschreibung

Rise above depression with CBT

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is a hugely popular self-help technique, which teaches you to break free from destructive or negative behaviours and make positive changes to both your thoughts and your actions. This practical guide to managing depression with CBT will help you understand your depression, identify solutions to your problems, and maintain your gains and avoid relapse.

Managing Depression with CBT For Dummies is a practical guide to using CBT to demolish depression by identifying and correcting negative thought patterns, recognizing the destructive power of ruminative thinking, confronting problems, and finding positive solutions.

• Helps you understand depression and how it develops
• Shows you how to correct negative thought patterns
• Gives you tried-and-true CBT techniques to combat your depression

If you're struggling with depression, Managing Depression with CBT For Dummies gives you the tools you need to break down the barriers that prevent happiness from taking hold, and allowing you to build a positive future.

Leseprobe

Managing Depression with CBT For Dummies®

Visit www.dummies.com/cheatsheet/managingdepressionwithcbt to view this book's cheat sheet.

Table of Contents

Introduction

About This Book

Conventions Used in This Book

Foolish Assumptions

How This Book Is Organised

Part I: Understanding Depression and How It Develops

Part II: Putting What You Discover into Action

Part III: Maintaining Momentum

Part IV: The Part of Tens

Icons Used in This Book

Where to Go from Here

Part I: Understanding Depression and How It Develops

Chapter 1: Introducing Moods and Depression

Recognising the Differences: Sadness, Misery and Depression

Meeting sadness and misery

Experiencing depression

Making Sense of Your Symptoms

Prolonging a low mood

Changing weight

Suffering disturbed sleep

Lacking pleasure or enjoyment

Feeling tired all the time

Enduring aches and pains

Being unable to concentrate

Wanting not to be around people

Stopping the world (I want to get off): Suicidal thoughts

Thinking About Your Own Depression

Discovering how your experience fits with the theory

Measuring up

Balancing your lifestyle: What’s missing

Chapter 2: Introducing the Basic Principles of CBT

Becoming Your Own Therapist

Separating Depression into Three Domains

Defining problems and setting goals

Understanding the thought– feeling connection

Investigating the feeling– behaviour connection

Stopping the Depressive Spiral

Part II: Putting What You Discover into Action

Chapter 3: Thinking about Thinking

Uncovering Your Underlying Thought Processes

Ouch! Encountering hot cognitions

Monitoring thoughts and how they make you feel

Identifying the triggers

Unearthing your underlying rules

Assigning blame and making misjudgements

Recognising Thinking Errors

Thinking negatively

Thinking exaggeratedly

Weighing up the evidence

Chapter 4: Changing Your Thinking to Change Your Life

Breaking Bad Thinking Habits

Putting Your Unhelpful Thoughts on Trial

Witnessing your thinking errors

Finding a rational alternative thought

Evaluating the alternative

Going Deeper to Discover Causes

Chapter 5: Facing Your Feelings to Tackle Depression

Introducing Negative Emotions

Discerning helpful negative emotions

Identifying unhelpful negative emotions

Seeing the value in some negative emotions

Seeing the Thought–Feeling and Feeling–Behaviour Connections

Changing your attitude

Persevering for improvement

Managing Your Emotions

Recognising your sensitivities by describing emotions

Noticing, describing and tolerating your own emotions

Developing emotional responsibility

Changing your relationship with emotions and intrusive thoughts

Beating brooding and worrying

Recognising the child within: Ego states

Searching for self-resilience and self-comfort

Chapter 6: Changing Your Attitudes to Combat Depression

Making and Maintaining Positive Changes

Balancing your life

Keeping track of the evidence

Accentuating the Positive: Skills to Combat Depression

Recognising opportunities

Taking an interest in life

Living for today

Becoming more friendly

Enjoying the good things in life

Relaxing when you deserve it

Developing humour

Helping out other people

Eliminating the Negative: Steering Clear of Dark Thoughts

Improving your attitude to age

Resisting the demand for perfection

Combating boredom

Being your own best friend

Chapter 7: Raising Self-Esteem to Increase Your Motivation

Identifying the Issues of Low Self-Esteem

Discovering Your True Self-Worth

Giving yourself credit

Avoiding errors when challenging low self-esteem

Being Kind to Yourself

Using unconditional self- acceptance to accept yourself

Moving from global statements to specific ones

Talking to yourself positively

Using the prejudice model

Taking one step at a time towards being content

Chapter 8: Developing Abilities that Challenge Depression

Developing Compassion for Yourself

Attaining acceptance mode

Acknowledging the positives

Rediscovering Your Resilience

Discovering the Power of Assertiveness

Defining assertiveness

Assertiveness: Beating the barriers

Recognising your rights

Trying out some tricks of the trade

Being comfortable with communicating

Chapter 9: Being Mindful, not Mind-full: Developing Your Awareness

Discovering the World of Mindfulness

Joining mindfulness with CBT

Meeting meditation and mindfulness

Carrying Out Activities Mindfully

Becoming more aware

Practising mindful meditation

Letting Go of Your Demands

Part III: Maintaining Momentum

Chapter 10: Discovering the New, Healthy You

Enjoying Your Progress

Making mistakes to meet your goals

Pursuing the positives

Rediscovering Relationships

Chapter 11: Reducing the Risk of Relapse

Discovering the Danger Zones

Planning for Prevention

Rallying the Troops for Support

Part IV: The Part of Tens

Chapter 12: Ten Tips for Tackling Depression

Enjoying Physical Exercise

Being Kind to Yourself

Taking Pride in Your Appearance

Maintaining Your Surroundings

Keeping in Touch

Noticing the Pleasurable Small Stuff

Defining Your Problem Accurately

Enjoying the Journey

Doing Something New

Making Someone Else Happy

Chapter 13: Ten Tips to Challenge Distorted Thinking

Avoid Catastrophising

Think in Grey, Not Black and White

Correct Generalisations

Resist Mind-Reading

Switch Off Your Mental Filter

Reason Rationally

Don’t Personalise Events

Look Ahead to Combat Awfulising

Stop Comparing and Despairing

Consider Future Possibilities

Chapter 13: Appendix

Cheat Sheet

Managing Depression with CBT For Dummies®

by Brian Thomson and Matt Broadway-Horner

Managing Depression with CBT For Dummies®

Published by: John Wiley & Sons, LtdThe Atrium, Southern Gate Chichester www.wiley.com

This edition first published 2013

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Introduction

Depression is one of the most common health problems that people experience, and it can decimate lives. Research shows that one in five people suffer from depression at some time, and yet it’s still one of the most misunderstood conditions, often confused with sadness, misery or unhappiness.

This book guides you towards a better understanding of depression and helps you to recognise and address the symptoms by using an approach called cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). The great thing about CBT is that it uses tried and tested methods to help you understand how you became depressed – and what is keeping you depressed – and empowers you not only to help yourself overcome it and start living a fulfilling life again, but to help other people too.

One patient told us that she’d suffered from depression all her life, and that she thought it was genetically based because both her parents had suffered from depression throughout their lives. However, she agreed to try CBT and within the first few weeks she had begun to understand her depression better and to feel empowered to take charge of her life. By the time she completed her treatment, she felt confident in dealing with whatever life threw at her without sinking into depression. At the end of her treatment, she sent us a lovely thank-you card, in which she said: