I wonder if any one could help me as you seem to be a well read lot and i amcertain you wil have read this book as it seems to be the CBT therapists bible. Mind over Mood i would like your opions on this little self help book, and how some have you found it and if any have you used it with yourself or other people. Hope any one can help me!!!
I recommend it highly. However, it’s very easy to mess up the table, so you really need to read the book carefully and go over it many times. At first the tables take FOREVER to do, but after a while, it becomes second nature. And please not that the process involved is VERY UN-NATURAL. NOBODY NATURALLY thinks like that. But once you get the hang of it, you start going to “alternative/balanced thoughts” almost automatically.
Get the client version, BTW.
I just wanted to ask and i hope you don’t mind but was this from personal experience. I use it with a few people and want to get the two different persepctives. I also agree that the tables can be confusing, and that kind of thinking does seem strange at first. However i am intreasted to know how it works for people who are not that into reading as it is very much word based and when using on your own does require a lot of concentration, which when you are depressed you may find difficult, What do you think?
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Well, personal experience insofar as it was my patients/clients. I only use it with clients who CAN use it–though some who CAN use it don’t like it and stop…but I always encourage continuing. I also HONESTLY tell them its strengths and limitations. And I go over it with them via several examples to help get the hang of it. And don’t forget page 70 and 95 (hint boxes referred to at bottom of certain columns). I’ve had many clients who were handed the sheets by other psychologists who never really went over things properly and they got discouraged really quickly. I am very dynamic but honest with them when doing it and for the most part make believers out of my clients.
Thanks very much for your opions it was much appreciated. I have to say that i do a simalr thing. I find that you have to tkae it at the patients pace and that sometimes it can be a liitle over-whelming for them. I find it more of a challange to use with people who are depressed, as motivation is usally quite low. However it seems to work very well for people who are suffering from anxiety. I read somewhere that to become affective at delivering it, the best thimg to do is use mind over mood yourself. I wonder if you have ever tried this. I have to say i am liitle sceptical. Have you any other rcomendations for self help material. I have a few selections but i find Mind over Mood so far the easiest to use.
I would read A guide to Rational Living by Albert Ellis first. His ideas are fun and give a background to the whole CBT thing. The book that you mention is moretechnical. Ellis gives the whole philosophy behind things. Also, he invented the whole idea, so read him first.
Next time I will try to use the word “whole” a little more.
Thanks for that i will give that a look up. I agree i think mind over mood is very mechanical and even bit dry. Has any one used the chris williams book
Yeah, Ellis is just about the most fun writer on the subject. As I said, he invented cognitive therapy. He calls his Rational Emotion Behavioral Therapy. But it’s the same. If you get his ideas down you will not have to see a therapist unless you want to.
Interestingly, I have met him several times and know friends of his. I’m sad that I didn’t know him when he was younger though.
thanks for the recomendations have just ordered the book at amazon. I work in the NHS and therfore have to offer brief therapies to patients on a CBT model, this is the reason why i am asking around the subject of self help. I have to say most of the stuff i have read so far does not seem inspiring if you know what i mean.
I wonder if any one has had any experience with delivering brief therapies or of using them and could tell me their views on how effective they thought they were.