Change Your Thinking: Overcome Stress, Anxiety, and Depression, and Improve Your Life with CBT

"I found this book in my local library after my psychologist recommended I look into CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy). I brought it home, read the first 2-3 chapters, then went online & ordered my copy from Amazon with expedited shipping.I have since fired my psychologist (saving $120-$240 an hour). However, I DON'T RECOMMEND THIS BOOK AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR MENTAL HEALTH CARE FOR EVERYONE. I was diagnosed with ADHD, depression, a few other little things, so I've been able to incorporate thought-monitoring into my consciousness & have had a lot of success with CBT in general.The explanations, examples, & thought-monitoring form are great. On the plus side, I am a stay-at-home mom, so I have the time to stop what I'm doing & do a little maintenance on myself when needed, something not everyone will be able to do. But if you get the book, take the time to read it & take the effort to apply the principles, apart from or in conjunction with a mental health provider, I believe you'll see definite results.Definitely a 5-star book."
~ Written on 2008-04-10

"As a clinical psychologist, I am a strong believer in the impact of thinking on emotions, and thus many of my interventions with my own clients are cognitive in nature. The premise of Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) is that the way we think determines the way we feel, and this book Change Your Thinking, is a self-help manual designed to address stress, anxiety, depression, and other emotional concerns through the use CBT. At the heart of CBT is the ability to recognize faulty thinking. The author describes the typical thinking errors which were originally identified by Aaron Beck in his ground-breaking book Cognitive Therapy of Depression; these include polarized (black-and-white) thinking, overgeneralizing, personalizing, filtering, jumping to (negative) conclusions, mind reading, blaming, labeling, predicting catastrophe, and comparing.

After Edelman has coached the reader in becoming adept at increasing awareness of negative thinking patterns, she moves on to the process of disputing negative and irrational beliefs; she then applies the disputation techniques to various types of concerns. Throughout the book, Edelman offers exercises to help readers apply the concepts which she has presented. Although Edelman borrows from the work of various giants in the field of psychology, she presents this information in a manner that is extremely accessible to the average reader and that is also appropriate to a self-help format. Given this, I highly recommend Change Your Thinking as a means for the general reader to apply the principles of CBT to their own lives."
~ Written on 2008-03-31

"Normally I don't think books like this are very helpful, but Change Your Thinking is really helping me to change my life. When I started reading it, I immediately felt like I could get back in control and actually improve what I had accepted as the status quo. The author gives a lot of simple tips that WORK, and the exercises are a big help. This is something that you need to commit to, but if you read this book and make even a tiny effort to pay attention to your thoughts you'll notice a difference.

I HIGHLY recommend this book to anyone with depression or anxiety (I suffer from both)."
~ Written on 2007-11-08