What do you think?
Rate this book
Feeling Great: The Revolutionary New Treatment for Depression and Anxiety
Feeling Great is based on 40 years of research and more than 40,000 hours treating individuals with severe mood problems. The goal is not just a rapid and complete elimination of negative feelings but the development of joy and enlightenment.
In Feeling Great, Dr. David Burns reveals that our negative moods do not result from what's wrong with us, but rather--what's right with us. And when you listen and suddenly hear what your negative thoughts and feelings are trying to tell you, suddenly you won't need them anymore, and recovery will be just a stone's throw away.
Dr. Burns will provide you with inspiring and mind-blowing case studies along with more than 50 amazing tools to crush the negative thoughts that rob you of happiness and self-esteem.
Are you tired of feeling
Down, depressed, or unhappy?
Anxious, panicky, or insecure?
You can change the way you feel!
You owe it to yourself to FEEL GREAT!
In Feeling Great, Dr. David Burns reveals that our negative moods do not result from what's wrong with us, but rather--what's right with us. And when you listen and suddenly hear what your negative thoughts and feelings are trying to tell you, suddenly you won't need them anymore, and recovery will be just a stone's throw away.
Dr. Burns will provide you with inspiring and mind-blowing case studies along with more than 50 amazing tools to crush the negative thoughts that rob you of happiness and self-esteem.
Are you tired of feeling
Down, depressed, or unhappy?
Anxious, panicky, or insecure?
You can change the way you feel!
You owe it to yourself to FEEL GREAT!
735 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 15, 2020
1323 people are currently reading
4120 people want to read
About the author
David D. Burns
24 books639 followersDavid D. Burns is an American psychiatrist and adjunct professor emeritus in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Stanford University School of Medicine. He is the author of bestselling books such as Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy, The Feeling Good Handbook and Feeling Great: The Revolutionary New Treatment for Depression and Anxiety.
Burns popularized Albert Ellis's and Aaron T. Beck's cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) when his books became bestsellers during the 1980s. In a January 2021 interview, Burns attributed his rise in popularity and much of his success to an appearance in 1988 on The Phil Donahue Show, to which he was invited by the producer after helping her teenage son with depression.
Burns popularized Albert Ellis's and Aaron T. Beck's cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) when his books became bestsellers during the 1980s. In a January 2021 interview, Burns attributed his rise in popularity and much of his success to an appearance in 1988 on The Phil Donahue Show, to which he was invited by the producer after helping her teenage son with depression.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 119 reviews
Read
February 2, 2021In a sentence: I believe the techniques described in this book can be genuinely helpful and it’s worth checking the book out, but I have mixed feelings on how the methodology is presented by the author.
A couple disclaimers: I’m absolutely no psychology/therapy expert so below is just my uneducated opinion; I haven’t read Dr Burns’ other works (I only briefly visited his website before reading this); I’m somewhat biased against CBT (cognitive-behavioural therapy) in general. I think CBT does have its uses and can be really helpful, but I don’t think it’s as helpful for everyone as it’s often made out to be.
“Feeling Great” basically describes a slightly enhanced form of CBT (called TEAM-CBT by the author) - still mainly about combating negative thoughts & cognitive distortions, with more of a focus on positive reframing (eg “how do these negative thoughts reflect a positive trait you have?” and “what are some benefits/advantages to these negative thoughts & feelings?”), as well as some aspects/techniques lifted from mindfulness & other modes of therapy.
My main issue with this book is that the author spends SO MUCH TIME trying to convince us that his “revolutionary” methods are the best ever & the only ones you’ll need & they’ll solve all your problems nearly instantly! Obviously, that’s a bit of an exaggeration on my part, and he does finally take a slightly more pragmatic view towards the end of the book, but it still left a bad taste in my mouth for the entire reading experience. He also spends a lot of time selling us on himself, his podcast, blog, and other books; I mean, I get why he does, and to his credit a lot of the resources are free and plentiful, I just personally find it a turn-off in any of the books I read.
He seems to have a strong bias against medication & other forms of therapy, but (in my opinion) doesn’t do a great job of justifying it. For the most part, he unfairly glosses over & simplifies any methods or concepts that aren’t included in TEAM-CBT, and usually cites either his own experience or a study he was involved in to explain how they’re less effective (the first pages on his chapter on Emotional Reasoning particularly stick out in my mind for this, as well as a chapter where he repeatedly refers to a single study he did from… 1975). Most of the text is devoid of citing any studies from anyone else at all, except for Chapter 31; maybe it’s just personal taste, but I just find that odd for a self-help book published in 2020.
The text is very repetitive. This is helpful in making sure that the techniques described are internalised - there are also A LOT of exercises to support this - but after a certain point it’s just way too much for me. It especially bothered me when the text repeated a concept so many times (“your negative thoughts cause your depression!”) only to contradict itself later in the text (“we don’t know what causes depression.”). I’ll concede that the author didn’t actually present this in such a black-and-white way, but it diminished the credibility of the text for me.
One final small negative point - this book includes lots of tables and forms, which is good! However, in the ebook version at least, a lot of them are too small or distorted and hard to read. I’m not sure if the print version has this issue.
Despite all the above, there is a lot to like here: as said, there are lots of exercises, the writing is very accessible, Dr Burns (mostly) writes in a positive tone that can be encouraging, and he seems like a genuinely nice & generous guy. The techniques and cognitive distortions are well-explained, and his examples of positive reframing especially are practical and believable (I also liked his “Five Secrets of Effective Communication”). I appreciate that he did touch on psychedelic therapy, albeit in a short and perhaps overly simplified way.
I really do think this book is worth a read, and the techniques and exercises could be really helpful for many. Please don’t let me dissuade you if you’re interested! I just think it’s a bit naive to consider TEAM-CBT a superior therapeutic treatment on its own; there are many other options out there that will likely work better for people. In my experience, it’s often not enough to just combat negative thoughts alone; you have to explore where those negative beliefs come from, especially if they’re deep-seated/recurring. It can also help to observe how your body experiences emotions, especially if you’re someone that struggles with identifying the thought behind the feeling, or if you feel “stuck” or “blocked” despite examining & reframing your thoughts and beliefs (aka me lol). Medications can genuinely help a lot of people as well.
In summary, definitely give it a go, but don’t despair if CBT or TEAM-CBT alone doesn’t work for you - it’s probably not your fault, and there’s plenty of other methodologies you can try alongside it.
A couple disclaimers: I’m absolutely no psychology/therapy expert so below is just my uneducated opinion; I haven’t read Dr Burns’ other works (I only briefly visited his website before reading this); I’m somewhat biased against CBT (cognitive-behavioural therapy) in general. I think CBT does have its uses and can be really helpful, but I don’t think it’s as helpful for everyone as it’s often made out to be.
“Feeling Great” basically describes a slightly enhanced form of CBT (called TEAM-CBT by the author) - still mainly about combating negative thoughts & cognitive distortions, with more of a focus on positive reframing (eg “how do these negative thoughts reflect a positive trait you have?” and “what are some benefits/advantages to these negative thoughts & feelings?”), as well as some aspects/techniques lifted from mindfulness & other modes of therapy.
My main issue with this book is that the author spends SO MUCH TIME trying to convince us that his “revolutionary” methods are the best ever & the only ones you’ll need & they’ll solve all your problems nearly instantly! Obviously, that’s a bit of an exaggeration on my part, and he does finally take a slightly more pragmatic view towards the end of the book, but it still left a bad taste in my mouth for the entire reading experience. He also spends a lot of time selling us on himself, his podcast, blog, and other books; I mean, I get why he does, and to his credit a lot of the resources are free and plentiful, I just personally find it a turn-off in any of the books I read.
He seems to have a strong bias against medication & other forms of therapy, but (in my opinion) doesn’t do a great job of justifying it. For the most part, he unfairly glosses over & simplifies any methods or concepts that aren’t included in TEAM-CBT, and usually cites either his own experience or a study he was involved in to explain how they’re less effective (the first pages on his chapter on Emotional Reasoning particularly stick out in my mind for this, as well as a chapter where he repeatedly refers to a single study he did from… 1975). Most of the text is devoid of citing any studies from anyone else at all, except for Chapter 31; maybe it’s just personal taste, but I just find that odd for a self-help book published in 2020.
The text is very repetitive. This is helpful in making sure that the techniques described are internalised - there are also A LOT of exercises to support this - but after a certain point it’s just way too much for me. It especially bothered me when the text repeated a concept so many times (“your negative thoughts cause your depression!”) only to contradict itself later in the text (“we don’t know what causes depression.”). I’ll concede that the author didn’t actually present this in such a black-and-white way, but it diminished the credibility of the text for me.
One final small negative point - this book includes lots of tables and forms, which is good! However, in the ebook version at least, a lot of them are too small or distorted and hard to read. I’m not sure if the print version has this issue.
Despite all the above, there is a lot to like here: as said, there are lots of exercises, the writing is very accessible, Dr Burns (mostly) writes in a positive tone that can be encouraging, and he seems like a genuinely nice & generous guy. The techniques and cognitive distortions are well-explained, and his examples of positive reframing especially are practical and believable (I also liked his “Five Secrets of Effective Communication”). I appreciate that he did touch on psychedelic therapy, albeit in a short and perhaps overly simplified way.
I really do think this book is worth a read, and the techniques and exercises could be really helpful for many. Please don’t let me dissuade you if you’re interested! I just think it’s a bit naive to consider TEAM-CBT a superior therapeutic treatment on its own; there are many other options out there that will likely work better for people. In my experience, it’s often not enough to just combat negative thoughts alone; you have to explore where those negative beliefs come from, especially if they’re deep-seated/recurring. It can also help to observe how your body experiences emotions, especially if you’re someone that struggles with identifying the thought behind the feeling, or if you feel “stuck” or “blocked” despite examining & reframing your thoughts and beliefs (aka me lol). Medications can genuinely help a lot of people as well.
In summary, definitely give it a go, but don’t despair if CBT or TEAM-CBT alone doesn’t work for you - it’s probably not your fault, and there’s plenty of other methodologies you can try alongside it.
October 11, 2021
I recommend Burns'
Feeling Good
over this book, Feeling Great. There is not much to add here that is of use that you can't get in the first book.
Except this. When we experience negative emotions or run through familiar patterns of negative thinking, we may be inclined to want to erase all traces of these emotions and patterns once and for all. In the first book, Burns sort of gives the impressions that you can but here he acknowledges that our emotions and patterns of thinking, good and bad, make us who we are, and even the negative thoughts and emotions have an upside. The goal of self-therapy then becomes not eliminating negative emotions and thoughts once and for all but decreasing them, putting them in their place.
Let me show you how this works. Imagine you feel slighted by someone you were close to in high school. You reach out to them, sending them a message on Facebook, and they don't respond. Perhaps you feel angry at this person and saddened. You begin thinking all kinds of negative things. 'This person doesn't like me.' 'I've wronged this person in some way.' 'I must be a terrible person.' 'My former friend must be a terrible person.' 'This person is ignoring me.' 'This person is wrong to ignore me.' And so on.
According to the original plan of Burns' CBT program, as laid out in his original book Feeling Good, what you need to do is rate on a scale of one to ten those emotions. Say anger is at a 7, sadness at a 9. Then you write down that stream of thoughts that you're having in simple, separate, declarative sentences. Then you identify what cognitive distortions there are among these thoughts.
Cognitive distortions are what you might call "stinkin' thinkin'," wrong ways of conceiving of the people and the world around you. The top 10 cognitive distortions are:
After you have correctly identified which thoughts have which cognitive distortions, it is part of the therapy process here to talk back to your thoughts more rationally and then re-evaluate on a scale of one to ten how strong your emotions are now.
The only thing this book adds is to ask yourself at some point, in looking over your written thoughts and emotions, what the upside of them are. For instance, even such negative thinking as the assumption that someone doesn't like you because they don't respond to you reflects that you care about other people and that it is not wrong in itself to care about what other people think, even if you are wrong about the content of their noggins. An additional goal then becomes coaxing yourself into seeing how your negative patterns can work for you if you harness them the right way.
Aside from that, you don't need this book. Just get the original and work from that. Blessings.
Except this. When we experience negative emotions or run through familiar patterns of negative thinking, we may be inclined to want to erase all traces of these emotions and patterns once and for all. In the first book, Burns sort of gives the impressions that you can but here he acknowledges that our emotions and patterns of thinking, good and bad, make us who we are, and even the negative thoughts and emotions have an upside. The goal of self-therapy then becomes not eliminating negative emotions and thoughts once and for all but decreasing them, putting them in their place.
Let me show you how this works. Imagine you feel slighted by someone you were close to in high school. You reach out to them, sending them a message on Facebook, and they don't respond. Perhaps you feel angry at this person and saddened. You begin thinking all kinds of negative things. 'This person doesn't like me.' 'I've wronged this person in some way.' 'I must be a terrible person.' 'My former friend must be a terrible person.' 'This person is ignoring me.' 'This person is wrong to ignore me.' And so on.
According to the original plan of Burns' CBT program, as laid out in his original book Feeling Good, what you need to do is rate on a scale of one to ten those emotions. Say anger is at a 7, sadness at a 9. Then you write down that stream of thoughts that you're having in simple, separate, declarative sentences. Then you identify what cognitive distortions there are among these thoughts.
Cognitive distortions are what you might call "stinkin' thinkin'," wrong ways of conceiving of the people and the world around you. The top 10 cognitive distortions are:
All-or-nothing thinking (AON). Seeing things only in black and white terms, for instance, that a person loves your or he hates you, without shades of gray.Okay, so you go through your itemized list of negative thoughts and find out which thought conforms to which negative thought pattern. For instance, in the example above, I wrote the sentence, 'This person doesn't like me.' Well, in this case of someone not responding to a message you sent them, this would be an obvious case of jumping to conclusions, mind-reading (MR) in particular, assuming you know what the other person thinks.
Overgeneralizing (OG). Taking one instance and generalizing it to others. This happened in this case so it must apply to all cases. You can identify these negative thought patterns by looking at what you tell yourself always or never happens.
Jumping to conclusions. Jumping to conclusions comes in two varieties:
Mind-reading (MR). Thinking you know the internal motives of another person on the basis of no independent evidence.
Fortune-telling (FT). Thinking you know what the future holds.
Magnification/Minimization (MAG/MIN). Blowing things out of proportion or reducing them to such a small size, they're puny in comparison to other things.
Mental Filter (MF). Looking at only the bad stuff and filtering out what's good about a situation or a person.
Disqualifying the positive (DP). Looking at something good that has happened and telling yourself it doesn't count, for whatever reason.
Should Statements (SH). Telling yourself that something should happen or should have happened, as if human behavior is supposed to operate according to your own internal principles.
Blame. FYI, in the original book, Burns called this "Personalization," but he saw fit to call it blame in this book and split it into two parts: Self-Blame (SB), and Other-Blame (OB).
Emotional Reasoning (ER). Assuming because you feel some way that it must follow that your feeling reflects fact.
Labeling (LAB). Labeling events and people as though the events and people are those things essentially. For instance, you call your former friend a bad person on the basis of this instance in which you're mad at him.
After you have correctly identified which thoughts have which cognitive distortions, it is part of the therapy process here to talk back to your thoughts more rationally and then re-evaluate on a scale of one to ten how strong your emotions are now.
The only thing this book adds is to ask yourself at some point, in looking over your written thoughts and emotions, what the upside of them are. For instance, even such negative thinking as the assumption that someone doesn't like you because they don't respond to you reflects that you care about other people and that it is not wrong in itself to care about what other people think, even if you are wrong about the content of their noggins. An additional goal then becomes coaxing yourself into seeing how your negative patterns can work for you if you harness them the right way.
Aside from that, you don't need this book. Just get the original and work from that. Blessings.
Currently reading
November 20, 2020I have been struggling for the last 6 months with depression. I came across david burns book two weeks ago and i implemented some of his techniques and i can honestly say that my depression has greatly eased. I had moderate depression and now its almost gone. In two weeks that is unbelievable for me cause everything online says it will takes months of medication and therapy and i was feeling a good amount of hopelessness. This book also works on anxiety, addictions and relationships. I would recomment to any one strughling with their mental health.
November 9, 2020
I read his first book when I was 19 and thought I wanted to be a clinical psychologist. It was awesome, eye opening. I was excited to read this book but it seems to be written for those already in the field. It's repetitive and is more of a case study compilation. I recommend skipping this title, and sticking with his original "Feeling Good", which is a great introduction to CBT.
March 8, 2021
2 Takeaways for you
1.) Treat this not as a book but as treatment / "bibliotherapy." It's a hefty 500 pages and requires you to sit down and do these CBT exercises. If you don't do them then you're wasting your time.
2.) This is the textbook CBT book and is the most recommended book in Canada and the US for depression. It also has a 50-60% recovery rate which is unprecedented and far beyond the results for standard therapy or barbituates.
___________________
My Takeaways
I love learning about psychology and I was also feeling on and off anxious from covid so I figured I'd read the new version of this book from the '80s. The premise is that thoughts are the root of all issues and emotions, not the other way around. It had me shift some mental distortions and see things in a new perspective which lifted much of the anxiety.
Complaint
I think the sheer volume and time needed for this book creates a barrier for 95% of people who don't have the patience/commitment for it. A 200-page speedy version could have been equally beneficial. Also, he spends way too much time telling stories and justifying the science when he should spend more time guiding the reader step-by-step on how to do this. (It's step by step but over 500 pages, eh).
Verdict
Either way, if you have even the tiniest bit of occasional anxiety, phobias, depression, or relationship problems this book will definitely help if you put the effort in.
1.) Treat this not as a book but as treatment / "bibliotherapy." It's a hefty 500 pages and requires you to sit down and do these CBT exercises. If you don't do them then you're wasting your time.
2.) This is the textbook CBT book and is the most recommended book in Canada and the US for depression. It also has a 50-60% recovery rate which is unprecedented and far beyond the results for standard therapy or barbituates.
___________________
My Takeaways
I love learning about psychology and I was also feeling on and off anxious from covid so I figured I'd read the new version of this book from the '80s. The premise is that thoughts are the root of all issues and emotions, not the other way around. It had me shift some mental distortions and see things in a new perspective which lifted much of the anxiety.
Complaint
I think the sheer volume and time needed for this book creates a barrier for 95% of people who don't have the patience/commitment for it. A 200-page speedy version could have been equally beneficial. Also, he spends way too much time telling stories and justifying the science when he should spend more time guiding the reader step-by-step on how to do this. (It's step by step but over 500 pages, eh).
Verdict
Either way, if you have even the tiniest bit of occasional anxiety, phobias, depression, or relationship problems this book will definitely help if you put the effort in.
September 15, 2020
Powerfully Liberating!
Highly recommended! This book shows you how to uncover, discover, and discard what is blocking you from feeling and living great! Must read for anyone practicing CBT. TEAM CBT is the future of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy!
Highly recommended! This book shows you how to uncover, discover, and discard what is blocking you from feeling and living great! Must read for anyone practicing CBT. TEAM CBT is the future of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy!
December 25, 2023
I read this book as part of the team cbt book club. We read this book over the course of three months. We met each week for an hour and a half to discuss the book. We would spend half of the class debriefing as a large group facilitated by therapists. Then we would spend the remaining part of the class with the same small group that was facilitated by a group leader.
Overall, I think this book and the group really helped me. I can see significant improvements in my anxiety, my communication, and my emotional regulation. I got so lucky to have a group that was so supportive, kind, and really helped me understand the concepts of the book. It was also just so validating (and maybe a little sad) to see how many people signed up for the club and were struggling with the same things I was.
In regards to the actual book, I started it skeptical and was skeptical the entire time. All self helpy books really irritate me, but I did find this book helpful. I would encourage people to read with an open mind and take what they find to be useful. I think there were some really helpful tools and concepts. I loved reading through the mental distortions and just having more self awareness about how/why I was thinking and why it was causing my anxiety. I also think the frameworks provided for how to understand your feelings and how to think through and process them were huge for me. I think that David Burns’ tone throughout this book was a bit patronizing and annoying. It made me not want to engage and continue reading at times. I also think the rhetoric about only needing to practice cbt, how talk therapy can lead to nothing, and medicine is never needed was really quite harmful and Dr. Burns needs to get over himself. I find cbt to be a powerful tool and think it can help anyone in their self help journey, but recognize it as a tool and not a cure all. I wish David Burns would not be so aggressive about people’s need to accept this way of thinking and only this. I think I got a lot more from the book because of the book club, but I still think this book is worth reading.
Overall, I think this book and the group really helped me. I can see significant improvements in my anxiety, my communication, and my emotional regulation. I got so lucky to have a group that was so supportive, kind, and really helped me understand the concepts of the book. It was also just so validating (and maybe a little sad) to see how many people signed up for the club and were struggling with the same things I was.
In regards to the actual book, I started it skeptical and was skeptical the entire time. All self helpy books really irritate me, but I did find this book helpful. I would encourage people to read with an open mind and take what they find to be useful. I think there were some really helpful tools and concepts. I loved reading through the mental distortions and just having more self awareness about how/why I was thinking and why it was causing my anxiety. I also think the frameworks provided for how to understand your feelings and how to think through and process them were huge for me. I think that David Burns’ tone throughout this book was a bit patronizing and annoying. It made me not want to engage and continue reading at times. I also think the rhetoric about only needing to practice cbt, how talk therapy can lead to nothing, and medicine is never needed was really quite harmful and Dr. Burns needs to get over himself. I find cbt to be a powerful tool and think it can help anyone in their self help journey, but recognize it as a tool and not a cure all. I wish David Burns would not be so aggressive about people’s need to accept this way of thinking and only this. I think I got a lot more from the book because of the book club, but I still think this book is worth reading.
April 6, 2021
This is the book you’re looking for
When I started this book several months ago I was in a spiral of depressive and anxious thoughts and feelings that I couldn’t seem to kick. This book helped walk me through these feelings and get me back on track to feeling great about myself and my life.
When I started this book several months ago I was in a spiral of depressive and anxious thoughts and feelings that I couldn’t seem to kick. This book helped walk me through these feelings and get me back on track to feeling great about myself and my life.
June 3, 2022
Great if it helps you, but dangerously ableist for people with actual mental illness. If you are an otherwise healthy person who is going through a rough patch, by all means give it a shot. But if you try this book’s suggestions and it doesn’t work for you, SEEK ACTUAL HELP.
August 17, 2021
Patronizing, pretentious voice with a god complex. My therapist and I read this at the same time. And then chucked it, with her apologies.
December 3, 2025
Might’ve been a 3.5 but the final chapters were not it fam. We have evidence that exercise helps with depression, we have evidence that there’s types of depression that need medication. I’m interested how he can at the same time recommend Sapolsky’s work and also oppose one of his main ideas about depression.
Could’ve been way shorter and could’ve included way less selling of the author’s greatness. It was very off-putting and I think that’s why it took me three years to finish it.
The main approach with identifying the cognitive distortions behind a thought and what’s positive about that same thought is straightforward enough and I’m trying to apply it but it’s hard and I haven’t really been cured. Because there’s many thoughts, and this needs to be done for each one of them in detail. So I just can’t believe someone with MDD can have one session and be “cured”. Coupled with the things I mentioned above, often the book felt disingenuous, even if it was well intended.
Could’ve been way shorter and could’ve included way less selling of the author’s greatness. It was very off-putting and I think that’s why it took me three years to finish it.
The main approach with identifying the cognitive distortions behind a thought and what’s positive about that same thought is straightforward enough and I’m trying to apply it but it’s hard and I haven’t really been cured. Because there’s many thoughts, and this needs to be done for each one of them in detail. So I just can’t believe someone with MDD can have one session and be “cured”. Coupled with the things I mentioned above, often the book felt disingenuous, even if it was well intended.
December 23, 2022
I need to start with a disclaimer: I’ve had only negative experiences with CBT. I have had trial sessions with several therapists and in best cases I felt patronized; in worst, simply gaslit. This book confirmed I was justified.
David Burns gives several examples of negative feedback from patients claiming he wasn’t listening to them. The patients had also another thing in common: they were all victims of abuse. These people stood face to face with a doctor who claimed their negative perception of what they’d experienced was distorted thinking and a question of mindset. After several such encounters, David Burns decided to listen for approximately 30 minutes to create a perception of a safe space. The last sentence is, obviously, exaggerated and ironic, but it encapsulates my negative experience with CBT: each and every therapist had an attitude that what I was saying wasn’t true and only in my head. I suppose, this is what they’re taught and trained in. In my case, the therapists were acting exactly like my abuser: doubting, dismissing, gaslighting.
In fact, in one of the first chapters David Burns says openly that the negative thought needs to be precisely defined. It confirms my suspicions: that CBT, or at least how David Burns practices it, is effective for very situational depressive episodes that have a very concrete beginning and a cause. It strongly reduces the target audience but hey, anything to boost the statistics. It’s not the first time David Burns is unethical. Repeated comments that other forms of therapy and pharmacology are bullshit (yes, he really used that expression) and a plot to get rich by harming the patients are the lowest low. If David Burns isn’t able to hype his own method without insulting others and bringing them down, maybe he’s not as good as he thinks.
Especially considering that the described methods don’t sound particularly convincing. Allegedly, patients get cured within one session, often a public one, and the evidence is an assessment sheet. All of us have encountered skilled salesmen who talked us into buying something we didn’t need; usually, after the endorphins drop to the previous level, we realize we’ve been conned. All the case studies in the book end with the end of the session, in few cases we have a fast forward to one and a half year later, there’s no follow up, no development. Particularly unbelievable is a story of a mafioso who started the session as a thug and at the end was sobbing. The only thing missing was violin music.
This book isn’t simply annoying, it’s also dangerous. People with low self-esteem and deep depression shouldn’t be subjected to the condescending comments that it’s all in their head and that meds are a hoax.
David Burns gives several examples of negative feedback from patients claiming he wasn’t listening to them. The patients had also another thing in common: they were all victims of abuse. These people stood face to face with a doctor who claimed their negative perception of what they’d experienced was distorted thinking and a question of mindset. After several such encounters, David Burns decided to listen for approximately 30 minutes to create a perception of a safe space. The last sentence is, obviously, exaggerated and ironic, but it encapsulates my negative experience with CBT: each and every therapist had an attitude that what I was saying wasn’t true and only in my head. I suppose, this is what they’re taught and trained in. In my case, the therapists were acting exactly like my abuser: doubting, dismissing, gaslighting.
In fact, in one of the first chapters David Burns says openly that the negative thought needs to be precisely defined. It confirms my suspicions: that CBT, or at least how David Burns practices it, is effective for very situational depressive episodes that have a very concrete beginning and a cause. It strongly reduces the target audience but hey, anything to boost the statistics. It’s not the first time David Burns is unethical. Repeated comments that other forms of therapy and pharmacology are bullshit (yes, he really used that expression) and a plot to get rich by harming the patients are the lowest low. If David Burns isn’t able to hype his own method without insulting others and bringing them down, maybe he’s not as good as he thinks.
Especially considering that the described methods don’t sound particularly convincing. Allegedly, patients get cured within one session, often a public one, and the evidence is an assessment sheet. All of us have encountered skilled salesmen who talked us into buying something we didn’t need; usually, after the endorphins drop to the previous level, we realize we’ve been conned. All the case studies in the book end with the end of the session, in few cases we have a fast forward to one and a half year later, there’s no follow up, no development. Particularly unbelievable is a story of a mafioso who started the session as a thug and at the end was sobbing. The only thing missing was violin music.
This book isn’t simply annoying, it’s also dangerous. People with low self-esteem and deep depression shouldn’t be subjected to the condescending comments that it’s all in their head and that meds are a hoax.
May 30, 2025
I needed this book and am thankful it was recommended to me ♥️
August 9, 2021
This book is perfect for those that are:
- struggling with mild to moderate depression and anxiety
- motivated and want to get better
- willing to and have the capacity to put in the work to get better
- not having concurrent catatonia/psychomotor retardation or active suicide ideation
I honestly believe the methods in this book can work, (considering that antidepressants don’t really work, at least TEAM CBT doesn’t have the nasty side effects), but I will say results can vary based on who says it and how it’s said, so that can be up to how each individual interpret Dr. Burns’ tone and intent. I saw some comments about how he comes across as repetitive and arrogant in this book. I didn’t really get that vibe, but then again, I’m also a health care professional, which makes me a little biased.
What this book asks the readers do is not easy, in fact, it is VERY difficult. It will only work if you actually try. But it is my opinion that recovery is never easy and if therapy or CBT isn’t an option for you, then at least give this a good chance. It can’t hurt more than medications.
- struggling with mild to moderate depression and anxiety
- motivated and want to get better
- willing to and have the capacity to put in the work to get better
- not having concurrent catatonia/psychomotor retardation or active suicide ideation
I honestly believe the methods in this book can work, (considering that antidepressants don’t really work, at least TEAM CBT doesn’t have the nasty side effects), but I will say results can vary based on who says it and how it’s said, so that can be up to how each individual interpret Dr. Burns’ tone and intent. I saw some comments about how he comes across as repetitive and arrogant in this book. I didn’t really get that vibe, but then again, I’m also a health care professional, which makes me a little biased.
What this book asks the readers do is not easy, in fact, it is VERY difficult. It will only work if you actually try. But it is my opinion that recovery is never easy and if therapy or CBT isn’t an option for you, then at least give this a good chance. It can’t hurt more than medications.
August 18, 2021
Relevant to everyone and a good update on the older Feeling Good. Perhaps a little repetitive, but the repetition is not tedious and all of the numerous examples and stories are highly illustrative and informative. I highly recommend this book to absolutely everyone. There is power in the realization that our feelings are a result of our thoughts and that those thoughts are not immutable. We get to choose what we think (and Dr. Burns arms us with techniques to help steer us to conviction in those thoughts that are kindest to ourselves and others). The biggest addition to this new book is the idea that some of the negative thoughts we have been holding onto may say some really great things about us and the values we hold. He then helps us work with that to overcome our opposition to change that may arise because our subconscious may believe that change may threaten those values. So helpful.
July 15, 2025
"Outcome resistance and process resistance are totally different. Outcome resistance means that you have mixed or even negative feelings about recovery. Process resistance means that although you may want to recover, there is something you’ll have to do – but don’t want to do – to recover… Traditionally, therapists have viewed patient resistance as stemming from something negative about the patient. For example, some therapists believe patients clean to depression because they like to complain, because they want to get attention, are afraid of change or want to indulge in self pity. The problem with these formulations is that they path the patient. They are negative and disappearing, and they cast the patient in a bad light, like a whining child. And even more important, they aren’t very helpful. Is it possible that we sometimes get stuck in depression and resist change? Not because there is something wrong with us but because there is something right with us? Homework is the key to recovery. It involves work. That sort of positive reframe is a startling concept for people who wonder what could possibly be beautiful and awesome about feeling depressed, anxious, hopeless, worthless, or lonely.”
It’s like people are not grasping the significance of this book.
I recommend listening to an interview with Dr Burns to grasp what a big deal this is.
It’s like people are not grasping the significance of this book.
I recommend listening to an interview with Dr Burns to grasp what a big deal this is.
February 3, 2023
After a few months of “generalized anxiety”, and trying the basic techniques (more exercise, less alcohol and caffeine, breathing exercises, yoga) I was ready to try something new.
Although I was familiar with CBT before reading this, after hearing an interview with the author (now 78 years old) and some glowing recommendations, I decided to read yet another self-help book.
I’m glad I did.
I was disarmed at first by the informal, casual writing style and many(!) exclamation points!!! But that style grew to be charming, and the author’s self-deprecating stories helped make him relatable and credible.
More importantly, the CBT techniques work. The key, as I learned this time, is to ACTUALLY DO THE EXERCISES! Decades of negative self-talk and cognitive distortions don’t go away from just a conceptual understanding of a more positive way of thinking. It takes practice to rewire your thought patterns and cultivate new habits.
I admit it was tempting to skip the exercises and just get to the point, especially when asked to analyze other peoples stories that you feel may not be relevant to you. I urge you to resist this temptation if you expect the book to have an effect. By applying the simple techniques, in writing, over and over on other cases, you are prepared to apply them to your own thoughts and to ultimately do so without the book.
Thank you, Dr. Burns, for your tremendous contribution.
Although I was familiar with CBT before reading this, after hearing an interview with the author (now 78 years old) and some glowing recommendations, I decided to read yet another self-help book.
I’m glad I did.
I was disarmed at first by the informal, casual writing style and many(!) exclamation points!!! But that style grew to be charming, and the author’s self-deprecating stories helped make him relatable and credible.
More importantly, the CBT techniques work. The key, as I learned this time, is to ACTUALLY DO THE EXERCISES! Decades of negative self-talk and cognitive distortions don’t go away from just a conceptual understanding of a more positive way of thinking. It takes practice to rewire your thought patterns and cultivate new habits.
I admit it was tempting to skip the exercises and just get to the point, especially when asked to analyze other peoples stories that you feel may not be relevant to you. I urge you to resist this temptation if you expect the book to have an effect. By applying the simple techniques, in writing, over and over on other cases, you are prepared to apply them to your own thoughts and to ultimately do so without the book.
Thank you, Dr. Burns, for your tremendous contribution.
July 21, 2022
VERY GOOD.
In the world of self-help or even spiritual books, this is the best one I've read. Easily. It makes me doubt the ones I've been previously very excited about like 'The body keeps the score'.
Many great tools, helpful ideas and a better understanding about how thoughts not events make your mood.
I did the excersises and filled in many daily mood logs. I find them helpful but not always easy or quick. The practice does take time to learn but that's okay. Thus fare results are great.
As a social worker it also teached me a lot about my professional practice and I will try to take as much wisdom from this book with me.
Eventhough David Burns is sometimes ridiculously sure of his method I've always found him down to earth and relatabe. He knows his stuff and does not operate or create TEAM-CBT alone.
All the stars!
In the world of self-help or even spiritual books, this is the best one I've read. Easily. It makes me doubt the ones I've been previously very excited about like 'The body keeps the score'.
Many great tools, helpful ideas and a better understanding about how thoughts not events make your mood.
I did the excersises and filled in many daily mood logs. I find them helpful but not always easy or quick. The practice does take time to learn but that's okay. Thus fare results are great.
As a social worker it also teached me a lot about my professional practice and I will try to take as much wisdom from this book with me.
Eventhough David Burns is sometimes ridiculously sure of his method I've always found him down to earth and relatabe. He knows his stuff and does not operate or create TEAM-CBT alone.
All the stars!
June 25, 2025
There is power in the truth that our thoughts heavily influence our feelings. That is the basis behind much of the ideas in this book. There's also a lot about cognitive distortions. I've known them to be called "thought errors."
There are ways to straighten out those thoughts. This book spends most of its words showing examples of a lot of different people and situations as well as the solutions to the cognitive distortions.
The thing is, none of this is new to me. I wish I had just gone to page 475 and begun there. The chapter "Fifty Ways to Untwist Your Thinking" has everything you need to know. That is if you didn't know it already.
There are ways to straighten out those thoughts. This book spends most of its words showing examples of a lot of different people and situations as well as the solutions to the cognitive distortions.
The thing is, none of this is new to me. I wish I had just gone to page 475 and begun there. The chapter "Fifty Ways to Untwist Your Thinking" has everything you need to know. That is if you didn't know it already.
January 22, 2023
I wish I could give it 3 1/2 stars. I think it's a book that could be really useful for a lot of people, but I also have reservations about it. Maybe I'll eventually write a more detailed review.
February 19, 2022
I skimmed through all of the parts that were relevant to me (I have read two of his other books all the way through, so I was familiar with his framework). It was super helpful, can't recommend it enough! It totally helped me reframe some negative thoughts as I've struggled with some health problems.
October 13, 2022
So, on the whole not a bad book, just maybe not right for me? The author feels authentic and a lot of the ideas were new to me and interesting.
That said most of the examples were unrelatable for me personally, but a humbling reminder of what others go through and humility practice. It makes me feel lucky that I don't run into folks with cancer or severe physical impairments or that think they're untouchable. It's definitely not meant to be read, it's meant to be a workshop. I'm trying to get better at knowing how to reframe thoughts in positive (CBT) ways, as at root this is a really solid approach to mental health. As a life-wide model it totally makes sense. I wish the book were full of more examples for how to rewrite my negative thoughts specifically.
As a remedy to romantic struggles (dating, not sustaining relationships - I think it's good for that) it's not very useful. In my opinion in the dating context strategies like trying to be vulnerable, looking at your track record data, or trying to ask people what they think to avoid mindreading pitfalls backfire at least 50% of the time. More and more I feel like the guide book to dating in the oversaturated app-driven world of young, beautiful rich humans that is Colorado is to (1) have a professional photographer who follows you everywhere (2) be a comedian trained in the arts of quippy one-liners delivered a mere 2 times weekly. It has little to do with self-development, so maybe that's on me?
We're all subject to externalities - we can decide to treat people one way or see the world in a given way but if everyone else is operating on different norms it doesn't really matter. We can coax ourselves into feeling better, but that may not solve the root problem that causes us to keep feeling bad - one that lies outside of our own minds. That's not on Dr. Burns or this book, really, it's sort of like getting frustrated at the weather. The whole "cured in a day" thing feels sketch. I think it's got to be more of a process of practice, but CBT should be part of that.
I was really curious about the chapter on anxiety and then it was all about people with much more severe forms than I ever encounter. It made me wonder what I even think anxiety is - do I just conflate it with introversion or demisexuality? Most of the anxiety I see in others is people who are afraid of physical touch and/or emotional or intellectual vulnerability and have trouble forming strong relationships as a result. It's not folks who suffer from panic attacks or OCD or phobias. How to help (or just deal with?) folks with the "total flaketown" variety of anxiety (classic avoidance?) must be in another book. I'll keep searching.
In the meantime I'd recommend reading the first couple of chapters to get a sense of the ideas, and maybe more for folks who are working with more severe conditions - in themselves or others. Examining the reasons our hindrances might really be benefits and not challenging people to be another way outright - hearing them out and starting with affirmation - seems like a strong approach for people who are in a place where they're able to share.
That said most of the examples were unrelatable for me personally, but a humbling reminder of what others go through and humility practice. It makes me feel lucky that I don't run into folks with cancer or severe physical impairments or that think they're untouchable. It's definitely not meant to be read, it's meant to be a workshop. I'm trying to get better at knowing how to reframe thoughts in positive (CBT) ways, as at root this is a really solid approach to mental health. As a life-wide model it totally makes sense. I wish the book were full of more examples for how to rewrite my negative thoughts specifically.
As a remedy to romantic struggles (dating, not sustaining relationships - I think it's good for that) it's not very useful. In my opinion in the dating context strategies like trying to be vulnerable, looking at your track record data, or trying to ask people what they think to avoid mindreading pitfalls backfire at least 50% of the time. More and more I feel like the guide book to dating in the oversaturated app-driven world of young, beautiful rich humans that is Colorado is to (1) have a professional photographer who follows you everywhere (2) be a comedian trained in the arts of quippy one-liners delivered a mere 2 times weekly. It has little to do with self-development, so maybe that's on me?
We're all subject to externalities - we can decide to treat people one way or see the world in a given way but if everyone else is operating on different norms it doesn't really matter. We can coax ourselves into feeling better, but that may not solve the root problem that causes us to keep feeling bad - one that lies outside of our own minds. That's not on Dr. Burns or this book, really, it's sort of like getting frustrated at the weather. The whole "cured in a day" thing feels sketch. I think it's got to be more of a process of practice, but CBT should be part of that.
I was really curious about the chapter on anxiety and then it was all about people with much more severe forms than I ever encounter. It made me wonder what I even think anxiety is - do I just conflate it with introversion or demisexuality? Most of the anxiety I see in others is people who are afraid of physical touch and/or emotional or intellectual vulnerability and have trouble forming strong relationships as a result. It's not folks who suffer from panic attacks or OCD or phobias. How to help (or just deal with?) folks with the "total flaketown" variety of anxiety (classic avoidance?) must be in another book. I'll keep searching.
In the meantime I'd recommend reading the first couple of chapters to get a sense of the ideas, and maybe more for folks who are working with more severe conditions - in themselves or others. Examining the reasons our hindrances might really be benefits and not challenging people to be another way outright - hearing them out and starting with affirmation - seems like a strong approach for people who are in a place where they're able to share.
April 5, 2025
This is a very useful book. I read it while listening to the Feeling Good podcast and finally had the most success with the Feeling Great App. And I discovered that what I really need most often is to feel validated and have a way to describe my feelings. The AI tool in the app works really well for this. I didnt think it was that important of a step and often tried to skip straight to the reframing and reasoning, but it’s critical. ALSO the 5 steps of successful communication is so helpful with my kids. Empathy and validation are such an important foundation.
October 10, 2020
Seems too good to be true.
February 1, 2022
I certainly learned a lot about cognitive distortions, positive reframing, and different mental strategies to counteract negative thinking. The main idea is that you feel the way you think, and that if you can change the way you think, you can change the way you feel. While I appreciate the hopeful tone, I found many of the messages to be cavalier in how successful they sounded. Dr. Burn's would often say, "By the end of the session, the patient's anxiety and depression and dropped down to almost zero! The depression was gone!" While this may happen rarely, I found it very difficult to believe it happened as often as was implied, and certainly didn't feel that same level of radical change while reading it. I also found some of the positive reframing to be taken too far - sure, anxiety shows that you care a lot about something, but if it's leading to mental and physical distress, I don't think saying that shows something "awesome" about you is an effective or respectful strategy.
October 13, 2021
This is a breakthrough concept, and a wonderfully helpful book, at least for me. David Burns is so enthusiastic, he sounds like he might be throwing out the entire field of psychology/psychiatry in favor of one narrow approach. And yet, he has found the best approach, and it is based on solid science, even if you want to call it nothing more than solving the "rumination" problem. But that is the major problem in depression. And, to be fair, he does not throw away any other aspects of psychology. He calls them into question, and reports fairly on the statistics and the lack of efficacy of many of the other treatments for depression, including antidepressants and endless talk therapy that never reaches an endpoint.
July 16, 2023
Loved this book. I went to some of his seminars for CEUs and I think watching his therapy session and seeing him in person help make the techniques make for sense. It does feel gimmicky at times, but if you actually do the techniques and exercises in the book you realize how complicated it actually is. As a clinician, I appreciated the repetition because it gave me practice for each technique and got easier over time. I would recommend going to his trainings or listening to his podcasts as well.
March 3, 2021
This is an impressive new approach to anxiety and depression. The goal is to recognize that our anxiety and depression show is our strengths instead of showing what is wrong with us. Once we realize that, we can reframe our thought and challenge thinking errors to reframe the stories we tell ourselves and thereby improve our mental health.
January 12, 2022
A diadem and the crown of psychological literature. A simple and foolproof approach of positive reframing, and in the real life examples of his accounts of how this foolproof technique can be applied, all offer a Hands-On book for both therapists and patience how to overcome negative tendencies, moods, mental disorders, and much more.
Read
August 8, 2021If you're invested and fully believe in CBT then this is a perfect companion piece to in person therapy or if you just want to work through worksheets. The writing itself isn't always my cuppa but the insights and tools are valuable
Displaying 1 - 30 of 119 reviews