Book Review: Feeling Better:  Beat Depression & Improve Your Relationships

There are many ways we can try to feel better. We can try to improve the way we think. We can try to make more money. Have more stability. Get a better job. But all of these things, say Cindy Goodman Stulberg and Richard Frey, are red herrings. “We want to let you in on a little secret,” they write. “Your relationships hold the key to your happiness.” In their new book, Feeling Better: Beat Depression and Improve Your Relationships with Interpersonal Psychotherapy, Stulberg and Frey offer a step-by-step guide to improve your relationships by setting and achieving goals, articulating feelings, and making constructive decisions, and feel a whole lot better in the process. “For years, the first line of defense for depression has been pharmaceuticals, but we believe people can be taught the skills to help themselves feel better — no pills required,” write Stulberg and Frey. Breaking therapy into eight to twelve weeks, the authors ask their readers to work on particular tasks in a particular order. The first step is to understand depression for what it is. “Sadness is part of being depressed. So is losing interest in things that used to get you jazzed. But there’s also a whole list of symptoms people usually don’t associate with depression: trouble concentrating, indecision, loss of appetite, irritability, difficulty sleeping, and even body aches and pains with no apparent cause,” write Stulberg and Frey. And while it is common to feel like things won’t...
Source: Psych Central - Category: Psychiatry Authors: Tags: Book Reviews Depression Disorders General Happiness Memory and Perception Motivation and Inspiration Psychology Psychotherapy Relationships & Love Self-Help Treatment assertive Beat Depression and Improve Your Relationships boo Source Type: news