Depressed and Anxious: The Dialectical Behavior Therapy Workbook for Overcoming Depression and Anxiety

by Thomas Marra

As if coping with feelings of depression or anxiety by themselves weren’t difficult enough, clinical research suggests that as many as 60 percent of depression sufferers concurrently experience some kind of anxiety disorder. If you are in this group, it is quite common to simultaneously experience profound loss of energy and initiative along with substantial stress and anxiety. Caught between the push and pull of these two conditions, you might find that neither is easy even to recognize, much less cope with. But, by adapting for the first time the powerful techniques of dialectical behavior therapy, or DBT, to the special needs of people troubled by co-occurring depression and anxiety, this book offers powerful tools for overcoming this condition. DBT is designed for people who have lost hope and meaningfulness in life, who question their own ability to be influential in their world, who find their emotions intolerable, and who find that they try to escape and avoid important aspects of their lives. DBT may be just the tool you’ve been looking for to move beyond depression and anxiety.


The step-by-step exercises, techniques, and worksheets in this book work to identify painful inner conflicts that might underlie depression and anxiety symptoms. Then, by negotiating a series of compromises, the techniques help acknowledge these issues while limiting their ability to interfere with your life—effectively reducing the extent to which your emotions govern who you are or what you are capable of. This book explains mindfulness techniques that encourage participation in the world and allow easier adaptation to change. It treats the difference between “threat cues” and “safety cues” and how recognizing and reacting to them constructively can reduce the effects of anxiety and depression. By teaching you how to monitor and limit negative self-evaluations and how to best tolerate negative experience, this book gives you a powerful set of tools for the control of co-occurring depression and anxiety.

Genres: Psychology, Self Help, Mental Health, Nonfiction, Science, Reference, Health

254 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2004

Reviews

[stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

a good workbook, though not the best. however, until like linehan's handbook, this is directed at the client, rather than the therapist, so you can do the exercises and things on your own.

however, i think that the group therapy setting linehan propounds is the model that should be used, and so i don't feel so great about workbooks for people to do on their own - especially because some of the skills are difficult, and can actually get you into more trouble if you do them incorrectly than not doing anything at all.

it's also important to note that he was not trained by linehan, and that his "institution" is basically his private practice that he just named himself.

still, i appreciated that he directed the workbook toward a different population - because linehan hasn't updated her book yet, everything is still aimed at borderline personality clients, and i think DBT should and can be used with many more people.

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really decent DBT workbook with a lot of ideas on dealing with (and re-conceptualizing) anxiety and depression. I loved a lot of the analogies in this book and the way that things were framed in general. There were a lot of helpful exercises here as well. I'm excited to utilize this as a clinician.

[Amit · Rating 5 out of 5]

A dense book with lots of exercises to allow one to explore their decisions, emotions and make deliberate choices. Learnt many new concepts including secondary emotion(which one adds for making a primary or starting emotion, say you feel envy or sadness and then pile on guilt for feeling the former), allowed me to expand and deepen my senses, specially touch.
Took a while to read, but worth the journey.

A different way to read the book, start at the symptoms table at end and pick most relevant one and jump to that section and toolkit. Then to next one.

[Chareise Lynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Did this while doing a group therapy (book was not part of) it helped me understand the terminology better that they were using. What I didnt like was worksheets a little confusing a boring for a creative person. Highly recommebd doing DBT training for those that are depressed and hace high anxiety

[Lindsy Fish · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some parts were extremely useful, others less so.

Overall I'd recommend it. If you get stuck on a chapter, skip it and go back to it.

The chapters on meaning making and purpose were especially helpful to me.

[Sophie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great way to spend a Saturday night!!

[Vee · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'll admit I'm still trying to wrap my head around DBT but this book had some useful insights/worksheets.

[Rosemary · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most useful and straightforward explanations of how anxiety and depression fight against each other to land the sufferer in a continuous life of paralyzingly double-binds. Oh...and stepwise guidance on how to extract oneself. Using it with several clients right now!