Welcome to the Feeling Good Blog.

There are many posts here that can help you change the way you think and feel. To get you started, I’ve picked out a few that you might like, beginning with self-esteem. Most of us wouldn’t mind having more self-esteem. But what is, and how can you get more of it?

Check out the four posts on self-esteem!

The Secrets of Self Esteem—A Four-Part Series

We all want greater self-esteem.
But what IS “self-esteem”? And how can I get it?

Part 1: “I should be better than I am!”

When you’re experiencing low self-esteem, you’ll be giving yourself negative messages, like these:

• “I should be better than I am.”
• “Ugh! What’s the point in getting out of bed!”
• “I’m a failure.”
• “I’m inferior–there’s really nothing special about me.”
• “What if I’m unloveable?”
• “I shouldn’t have screwed up!”
• “I’m defective.”
• “I’m hopeless. Things can never change!”

Although these messages may feel and seem totally valid when you’re feeling depressed, they’re not. Depression is the world oldest con. And when you change the way you THINK you can change the way you FEEL!

Check out Part 1 here!

Part 2: “I should be better than I am!”

In this blog, you’ll learn about the ten common cognitive distortions that I first published in my book, Feeling Good. For each distortion, like All-or-Nothing Thinking, there’s a negative version (“I’m a loser”) and positive version (“I’m a winner.”) Negative distortions cause feelings like depression, anxiety, guilt, shame, inferiority, worthlessness, inadequacy, loneliness, hopelessness, frustration and anger. 

Positive distortions cause habits and addictions, relationship conflicts, narcissism, mania, racism, and violence. Positive distortions are much harder to challenge than negative distortions because they make you feel SO GOOD! So, people with positive distortions often have little or no motivation to change. 

Does recovery from depression mean that we should try to be happy all the time? In this lesson, you will also learn about the differences between healthy and unhealthy negative feelings.

Click here to read Part 2!

Part 3: Defeating All-or-Nothing Thinking

In this blog, you will learn about Ned, a Stanford graduate student who’d been struggling with severe mood problems for many years. Ned felt hopeless and discouraged because the benefits from his previous treatments with medications and conventional therapy were minimal at best. Although your life may be very different from Ned’s, I wouldn’t be surprised if you’ve had negative thoughts like his—beating up on yourself with shoulds and shouldn’ts and telling yourself that things will never change. You will learn about the TEAM-CBT techniques that brought about dramatic improvement in a single session.

Click here to read Part 3!

Part 4. The Death of the Ego
In this blog, you’ll learn about “needs” vs. “wants.” We often tell ourselves that we “need” something like love, approval, or great achievement to be happy or worthwhile. Recovery from depression actually involves the “Great Death” of the self, and a letting go of the need to be “special.” Two thoughtful and brilliant colleagues, Dr. Taylor Chesney and Dr. Jill Levitt, comment on this blog.
Click here to read Part 4!

Some More Blogs You Might Like!

• The Dark Side of Clinical Practice– Protect Yourself and Your Clients
• Can We Prevent Suicide Attempts?
• What’s the Best School of Psychotherapy?
• What’s the Meaning and Purpose of My Life? Do We Need Love and Achievement?
• More on the Meaning and Purpose of Life? Hitler vs. Mother Theresa
• Does Self Help Really Help? Or Is It Just Hype? A One-Two Self-Help Punch!
• Self-Acceptance–Are We All Defective?

These Blogs on Antidepressants May be Disturbing / Caution Advised.

• Podcast 20: The Truth About Antidepressants
• Should Antidepressants be Used in the Treatment of Depression? . . . No? . . . REALLY?
• Early in 2020, we hope to have a new and updated podcast on this controversial and disturbing topic featuring David Antonuccio, PhD, a renowned expert on antidepressant research.

Here are Some of the Most Popular Blogs of 2019.

• The Five Secrets of Effective Communication, Part 1
• Podcast #1, Introduction to TEAM-CBT
• Smashing Shyness, Part 1 of 2
• The Eight Most Common Forms of Therapeutic Resistance
• Live Session with Mark, Part 1. “I’m a failure as a father.”
• Podcast #7: You FEEL the Way You THINK
• Helping the Suicidal Patient

And Here are the BEST by FAR!

The most amazing blogs feature real live therapy sessions with individuals who recovered from severe depression and anxiety in a single TEAM-CBT therapy session. Most of these are 90 to 120-minute sessions broken up into several consecutive podcasts with commentaries. I will simply list the first part of each session here.

These podcasts are strongly recommended for therapists and the general public alike. You will learn a ton that you can use in your clinical work and in your own personal self-help journey. They will require considerable time and concentration, but will inspire you and may change your life! 

These are just a tiny portion of the immense free resources for you right here at www.feelinggood.com. Thank you for visiting! If you like what you see and hear, please tell your friends. Word of mouth is still my most valuable resource!

Or, if you really want to help, and you’re a member of any mailing list, please send the link to my home page or the link to the list of Feeling Good Podcasts to the people on your list. 

Remember, on any given day, roughly 30% of all the people in the world are experiencing elevated feelings of depression, anxiety, inadequacy, or anger. So, people on any kind of mailing list can benefit greatly. Since nearly all of the resources at www.feelinggood.com are free, you’ll be doing them a favor, and you’ll be helping me at the same time.

David Burns, MD