An Outstanding book not just for FEELING BETTER, but GETTING BETTER!

Dr. Burns incorporates the last 25 years of research and clinical developments since writing the best-seller FEELING GOOD (strongly recommended as well.) He has written a book which markedly refines and elaborates on FEELING GOOD, rendering the Cognitive Therapy approach found in FEELING GOOD even more effective for quick and long-term relief from distressing emotional conditions, including depression, anxiety, anger, and low-self esteem.

In case you don't know, the book FEELING GOOD has been clinically proven to relieve major depression JUST FROM READING IT and following its instructions. I am confident that a clinical trial on WHEN PANIC ATTACKS would yield similar results for individuals suffering from anxiety disorders. The new book is very readable and far more versatile, and addresses some of the implicit gaps left from the former book.

WHEN PANIC ATTACKS easily stands on its own, and doesn't just address panic attacks, but rather every conceivable type of anxiety, including chronic worrying, phobias, agoraphobia, shyness, public speaking anxiety, writer's block, procrastination, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and Body Dysmorphic Disorder. As far as I am concerned, Dr. Burns should win a Nobel Prize for what he has accomplished here. Beginning with the "Daily Mood Log" --a sophisticated yet elegantly simple worksheet for documenting and combating one's emotional pain-- he has developed a veritable "technology" for overcoming even the most disabling of human emotions.

Why do we suffer? We suffer because we hold onto some core self-defeating beliefs (SDB's) that leave us rather vulnerable to painful mood swings. Accordingly, he identifies 23 common SDB's. Many of these SDB's (such as Achievement Addiction, Approval Addiction, Fear of Rejection, Conflict Phobia, and Emotophobia) are far more widespread than even the common cold! All of our emotional suffering can be traced back to the SDB's that are always there, lurking somewhat hidden beneath our suffering, until we take the courageous and pro-active step to identify and revise them. He then provides 40 ways to "untwist" your thinking, divided into 15 types of methods. These types of techniques include Uncovering Techniques, Compassion-Based Techniques, Truth-Based Techniques, Semantic Techniques, Logic-Based, Quantitative Techniques, Humor-Based Techniques, Role-Playing Techniques, Spiritual Techniques, Motivational Techniques, Anti-Procrastination Techniques, Classical, Cognitive, and Interpersonal Exposure Techniques, and last but not least, the Hidden Emotion Model.

He additionally shows you how to select the techniques that will work best for YOU, and the whole trial-and-error process is easily recorded onto another handy-dandy worksheet! By encouraging you to "fail as fast as you can" (a brilliant concept in its own right!), he clearly demonstrates how anyone who is serious about their mental health and overall well-being can overcome even deep-seated emotional problems, and thereby attain robust self-esteem. He even provides specific and simple methods for "relapse prevention," because, as he states, EVERYONE relapses! Surely there's a BIG difference between FEELING better and GETTING better.

Because Thoreau was correct when he said, "The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation," I think it would be a tragedy to limit this book to those with mental health diagnoses. In fact, I cannot think of a single individual who would not be significantly helped by the information contained in this book. ********** 10 Stars on a scale of 5!



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solve anxiety issues

PLEASE DO NOT USE MY NAME, BEVERLY MUNSING. PLEASE PUT IT UNDER BEV.

Please read review under When Panic Attacks CD.

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Anxious? Panic-stricken? Agoraphobic? Help is on the way!!

There may not be anything new in this work, re: cognitive distortions, but this is still the gold-standard resource for those of us who suffer from this insidious malady know as Panic Disorder.

Dr. Burns book is not an easy read, meaning it does not offer quick, feel-good answers like so many pop-psych./pseudo-psych. books do. His work is written in a way that heavy involvement of the reader/patient is necessary in order to modify the maladaptive thinking and information processing that plagues people of our ilk.

The excercises are tedious and numerous to be sure. But then again, there are no easy answers for combatting panic.

This book is highly recommended by me because it has literally changed my life. Relief from suffering was quicker than what years of therapy was supposed to do for me. Like I said, there may not be anything "new," but to the average person who is not steeped in the literature the way a professional clinician would be, this makes no difference.

Dr. Burns has performed a valuable public health service by writing this book. Get it for yourself, or for anyone you know who may be suffering from this dreadful condition. It will change your/their life...for good and for the better.

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