Cognitive Behavioural Therapy: 7 Ways to Freedom from Anxiety, Depression, and Intrusive Thoughts (Happiness is a trainable, attainable skill!)

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy is a self-help manual about how to use CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) to deal with anxiety, depression and some phobias. It’s often done with therapists but this book provides a way to do it at home, for those more comfortable in that setting, as well as being a way to touch up on what you’ve already learned at therapy. The book breaks down exactly what CBT is, how it works, and gives the seven main steps needed to do the therapy. It also gives an in-depth look at how to incorporate CBT with various religions or with non-believers, depending on how you feel. One of the parts I found interesting was a section about sin and what it is, how it affects us and how it ties in with CBT. This section is not based so much on religion but how sin can affect us. There is also a list of additional books that can be read for further information and help, if needed or interested. At the back of the book, there is a workbook that goes along with what is discussed in the book. If you read the digital version of the book, as I did, you can always print off the pages needed or set the workbook up on your own. I found this part to be particularly helpful because it gives the reader a little nudge to do the work that the author discusses in the book. I’ve had experience with CBT through a therapist and, to be honest, found it useless. There’s nothing like trying to work through your issues while the therapist subtly looks at her watch constantly. This book allowed me to sit down at my own leisure in a comfortable setting and start to work on CBT. The author writes in a simple and understandable way that makes it easy and interesting reading. He makes it clear that this is not an overnight process and not an easy exercise but it is doable. I liked the fact that the author comes across as likeable and not over my head. He called it achieving a harmony in your mind and that is so true. The workbook is very simple and it is explained throughout the book as to how to do it. There are a lot of helpful quotes from various sources that also provided a lot of insight. I read this on my ereader and it formatted very well. The cover was eye-catching and grabbed my attention. This is truly a worthwhile read!

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is an introduction to the central premise of cognitive behavior therapy (one of the most widely used approached by mental health care practitioners today) to help those in a therapy program or who are looking for a way to address some of their issues using this approach. It is written in an easy to understand manner and gives a step by step process on how to select a problem to work on and how to improve upon the problem in question. The book is written in a seven step approach to addressing problems dealing with anxiety and depression in particular. Also included in this work are several worksheets to assist in working through the steps that are given in the book. The approach of cognitive behavioral therapy is very clearly explained in this book and was perhaps one of the best and easiest to understand volumes I have read about this therapy approach and how it works. The steps it gives are overall easy to follow and clear, becoming a little harder to follow on your own, at least to me, starting at step four when I personally feel a therapist would be more qualified to assist a person than the book. The author discussed something new to me and that is the use of religion in cognitive behavioral therapy which was interesting to read about. I also enjoyed reading about different ways to enhance mood that the author discussed in one of the last steps of the process. There were a lot of ways discussed in regards to troubleshooting the ability to successfully handle a problem using CBT and to improve mood in general. Although it didn’t distract from the message overall, this book could stand a good editing. There were a lot of places were a word or two were missing that made the understanding hard to get at first. I also felt a little bogged down in steps four and six and had to look at what the step was to understand why the research for the chapter was there and how it could be used to solve the problem that was generated in the first chapter. The worksheets were also a little rough and could be a little better developed. Overall this book was very clear and self explanatory with regards to how to deal with a problem using the CBT approach. The information provided is supported with articles in professional journals and very current. This would be a very helpful book for anyone trying to understand CBT, for a patient in a therapy program, or for someone who is looking for a self help book to deal with a problem. The worksheets are really helpful to guide the reader through the steps provided in the book even if they are a little rough looking. The suggestions and research provided are creative and interesting and will be helpful for the reader trying to improve an area of their life.

This book introduces you to the powerful tool that is cognitive behavioral therapy, and it's a great beginner book for those who are exploring cognitive behavioral therapy as an option for better psychological well-being and help in improving their lives. I myself have never pursued CBT before but have definitely considered it, and this book helped me understand it better and what it can do for me. I loved that it talked about thought journaling, because journaling is something I have done for a long time and I have kept a journal since the second grade. This book takes journaling as a self-development tool a step further. This book is right up my alley, psychology was my favorite class in school and the author of this is very psychology smart! He understands that focusing on the good and the positive goes a long way in life (something that people need to be reminded of sometimes), and he brings a healthy understanding of sin in religion, as well as many other interesting topics about religion and spirituality, and how they correlate to CBT. It goes over many strategies that I think will be very helpful to me. As someone who struggles with things like avoidance and other maladaptive behaviors and coping mechanisms, this has given me so much to think about and to apply in my life to improve on. One of my favorite things talked about in this book is his example of graded exposure - building up to the things you fear or dislike in order to overcome your fears - I have never gone to a therapist before, but I think that this is a common practice among therapists and psychologists. I love books like this that help explain the inner workings of the mind! Not only has it helped me learn new things about our thinking patterns and mental processes that I never knew about previously as well as different therapy techniques you can try, but it's a very simple read while also going in depth and into enough detail about everything it discusses with you. A++!

This was a helpful and informative book. I suffered with panic attacks when I was in college and I wish it would have been around back then. The book contains a lot of information about intrusive thoughts, which myself and millions of other people deal with on a daily basis. The author makes it very clear that we shouldn't avoid situations that tend to trigger our intrusive thoughts because doing so will only serve to create even more anxiety surrounding the situation and make it worse. Not giving in to such avoidance is something I need to work on in my own life and reading about it has pointed out that I'm actually doing myself a disservice by not confronting situations that I don't look forward to. If I deal with the situation and it turns out to be not so bad, then my anxiety levels in the future will be decreased. A later section deals with the fact that we can't control a lot of the things that happen to us, but we absolutely can control the way we react to those things. Truer words were never written. Throughout the course of my life, I've always tried to be conscious of my reactions to events because a situation can escalate quickly if heated emotions become involved. The book gives readers great suggestions for how to better control our attitudes and reactions. Overall, this book was extremely helpful and it was very easy to read. I was hesitant to start because I thought the writing style might be highly technical, but it wasn't at all. Everything was explained very clearly and the potential situations described were very relatable. I highly recommend this self help book to anyone who is trying to get to know themselves better.

This is the first self help book Ive ever read. I discovered that half of what they recommend, Im already doing. I like how they have the book set up. Explaining what everything is, then building up to different ideas to help. They mention to do whats best for you. Whether thats using medication, a therapist, or journaling. They mention a lot of eastern religions, which helpa to explain things. This is not going to solve your anxiety/stress/negative thoughts overnight, and they stress that. Its something thats going to take weeks to notice an improvement. A lot of it is taking away the stress or anxiety levels that certain thoughts bring. Its a good read, even just to be aware of what to look for, or to learn how to destress. It also contains a workbook in the back to help you. They give you many ideas on what to focus on, if youre not seeing improvements, to change your focus thought. Its easy to read, to understand, and again, a lot of good ideas to help you. They emphasize that for certain problems, it is best to consult a professional. When they mention research papers, they give you names and when it was published. They give you an idea on where to find, and what to look for for further reading.

As someone who has struggled with anxiety and depression throughout my life, I found this book to be very well-written and informative. This book gives practical advice and tips that you can implement in your life right away. It covers the basics of cognitive behavioral therapy as a whole while giving tips on different types of thinking patterns and techniques in CBT that are useful for the type of thought pattern you are dealing with. Another aspect I found useful is that the author uses a holistic approach encompassing mind, body, and spirit in approaching CBT and changing your thought patterns. The author incorporates beliefs from several major religions, including Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Taoism. He uses wisdom found in all of these religions as it relates to changing your thought patterns and mindset to be more positive and less depressed or anxious. The author gives techniques and exercises that take a holistic approach. For example, for the body, he gives tips like exercising and eating a well-balanced diet. For the mind, he gives mental exercises to do to help you change negative beliefs and thoughts into positive ones and monitor your thought processes through journaling. For the spiritual, he gives techniques for meditating and being part of a spiritual community. Another great feature of the book is that the worksheets and exercises are included in the appendices in the back of the book. You do not have to buy a separate workbook as is the case with some other CBT or self-help books. Everything you need is right there in the book, and at the price of $2.99, it is well worth purchasing. Overall, I gained a lot from this book, and I would recommend it to others who are recovering from anxiety, depression, OCD, or even PTSD.

I will start off by saying that in this review I am not going to go into detail of what the cognitive behavioral theory in this book is or what the seven steps are. since that would take a very long time to do so, this review is just going to be a basic overview of the things I like about this book and the things I did not. First I will say that I did enjoy this book, which I will be perfectly honest in saying that when I first got the book I was skeptical, I figure it would be a bunch of flowery languages disguising information most people already know, but I will say I was pleasantly surprised that this was actually very useful and useable information. The author did a fantastic job of breaking down, something as large and overwhelming as, the cognitive behavioral theory into seven easily understandable and usable steps. By doing so it makes the theory repeatable, which helps it become a habit and of course things that are habits help to change the way a person thinks and views situations and their thoughts on those situations. I also really enjoyed how the author added factual information, it shows that this theory is based on facts and that it has been thoroughly tested. The author also did make it a point that this factual information was not overly done so that the reader felt they were reading a textbook. Just enough to show the reader that what is written isn't just purely made up by the author. I also like the additions in and to the book, the first being the addition of the look into the aspect of religions and how they relate to this theory, but I will say one issue I did have with the book was that of all the religions that were featured where not all featured equally which might seem like some where favored over others. Second would be the addition of the worksheets at the end of the book are also a huge plus, since the book states to write down lots information that is beneficial in helping changing the thoughts. The third and final would be the steps to Peace of Mind, it was short and sweet! Overall, I would give this a four out of five stars. For someone finding themselves constantly thinking negative thoughts, those with anxiety and depression this step by step processes is very useful and a this book I would highly recommend to them.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is currently one of the most popular methods used to address a variety of disorders, including Anxiety, Depression, and Obsessive-Compulsive disorder, among many others. In this short book Wallace gives a synopsis of the origins of this technique, how it works, and the instances in which a CBT program on its own may not be appropriate. It is then followed by a simple 7 step process the reader with examples in each step that can assist the reader in beginning his or her own program. Throughout the book the author uses religious and philosophical texts and points of view that may assist the reader in processing the information, which include Buddhism, Stoicism, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, and Christianity. At the end the author provides resources, encourages readers to seek assistance from a trained person, and a few work sheets. The book cover definitely caught my eye with a shadow person inserting a new cog into their head and I found it representative of the book's contents. I enjoyed the inclusion of the religious and philosophical texts and that the author chose a variety in order to help the reader integrate the process with his or her own personal beliefs. This text will assist a reader in deciding if CBT may be the solution he or she is looking for with it's readable explanations and process. Due to it's short-length, however, it is not in-depth and readers will likely need to pursue other resources or assistance from a trained counselor to proceed.

Really pleased with this book. It’s been a good few years that I am interested in CBT and I already had some knowledge of it, but I find that this book is very helpful as it is so much better structured and, naturally, clear, than the scattered bits that I have picked up over the years. It certainly helped me to build a more structured understanding of CBT and both premise and philosophy of it. It helps to shake that unfair narrative of CBT being ‘behaviour control’ and helps to understand how and why it actually works. And, most importantly, who’s responsible for it working. Also, very helpful practical tool as the steps of CBT are nicely broken down which allows you to take the steps on your own without, hopefully, having to splash out on a therapist, when you may not have to. The realisation that you can do it yourself (and that you’re totally normal as very many people struggle with similar things, just to different degree) makes you feel somewhat empowered. Rekindled my old passion for CBT 😊

Very well writen. Short and very complete. Talks Also about the most important philosophycal and religious movements and their messages and benefits. Very inspiring and helpful. definetely worth reading, you Will fortunate that you came across this little and wise book

Au total pas beaucoup de conseils autres que des grands principes generaux. Je n ai rien contre le stoicisme mais 2-3 citations ca et la ne m ont pas appris grand chose.

This book is a good start. It shows a few possible ways to start changing your lifestyle. I ended up with stoicism but it’s all up to you.

This book is thorough and easy to read and understand. It offers simple solutions and an execution plan. Was beneficial