Feeling Great: The Revolutionary New Treatment for Depression and Anxiety

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Cameron Dewar, "'Greasepaint' Has What It Takes - And Maybe More", Billboard, 10 April 1965, p. 12.

At Mae's parents' house, Phil talks about his childhood: his biological father died and Phil pretended to his mother that his stepdad cheated on her. Mae's parents are overbearing, due to Linda's distrust, and try to test Mae's urine for drugs. Mae and George escape their surveillance. Mae encourages George to explore polyamory by kissing a woman in a club and George encourages Mae to consider the label non-binary. Inkboy chases them both over unpaid debt. Stumbling across the house where Mae lived with Scott, Mae recalls more traumatic memories and breaks down crying during sex. Take a break. When you feel frustrated, putting some distance between yourself and the upsetting situation can help you avoid in-the-moment reactions or angry outbursts. Try taking a walk or listening to a calming song. While you’re away, take a few minutes to consider what’s causing your anger. Does the situation have another perspective? Can you do anything to make it better? Pidd, Helen (30 November 2006). "The Pussycat Dolls, MEN Arena, Manchester". The Guardian . Retrieved 31 July 2013. 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 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. These techniques still have merit and application for people with real problems. I work with unhoused people in substance use recovery, and I still use these techniques with my clients. They still work because CBT, executed properly, is not about being indiscriminately, delusionally positive, but rather it is about thinking in more flexible, adaptive, kind and rational ways. HOWEVER, what I don’t do with my clients is apply this indiscriminately or make this out to be the ONLY tool. There is never going to be a therapy that works for every client. And there doesn’t need to be! People should be treated in their unique context.

What does this negative thought or feeling show about you and your core values that’s positive and awesome? 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. Over the past several decades, I’ve developed more than fifty methods to crush the negative thoughts that cause depression, anxiety, relationship problems, and habits and addictions.”

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.