Mind Over Mood (2nd ed.)
| Date | 19 September 2016 |
| Pages | 178-178 |
| Published date | 19 September 2016 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JPMH-04-2016-0020 |
| Author | Liz Gulliford |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care,Mental health,Public mental health |
Mind Over Mood (2nd ed.)
Dennis Greenberger and
Christine A. Padesky
Guilford Press
2016
ISBN 978-1-4625-2042-8
Review DOI
10.1108/JPMH-04-2016-0020
Mind Over Mood offers a wealth of
practical, straightforward advice to
succeed in achieving exactly what its
subtitle promises: to change how you
feel by changing the way you think. This
guidance takes the form of reflective
exercises and action plans to help
readers to examine and dispute beliefs
that are holding them back across a
range of domains. It tackles depression,
anxiety, anger, guilt and shame by
means of a cognitive-behavioural
approach. I was pleased to see that
elements of positive psychology, such
as keeping a gratitude journal, featured
in the exercises. Strategies like these are
to be commended, not only for
increasing happiness and subjective
wellbeing for those who practise them,
but also for their other-centred focus,
which offers another means of changing
key beliefs about the self in relation to
other people. The positive focus of these
activities offers a counterpoint to the
predominantly problem-fixing strategies
of mainstream cognitive-behavioural
therapy (CBT).
The book falls into three main sections:
Chapters 1-4, which give the reader
background information about the
assumptions of CBT; Chapters 5-12,
which constitute the book’s“core”
strategies; and Chapters 13-16, which
apply the strategies to common human
problems; depression, anxiety, anger,
guilt and shame. Methods through
which people can maintain their gains
can be found in Chapter 16. The authors
suggest that the book can be read to
prioritise individuals’needs, rather than
from cover to cover –a suggestion I
thought was very helpful. The fictional
case studies in the book (Ben, Marissa,
Linda and Vic) provide scope for
illustrating particular domains in which
CBT might be useful. This brings the
challenges and the strategies for tackling
them to life.
There is a sense in which this book
needs no special overtures from a
reviewer; the fact that over a million
copies have been sold in twenty three
languages rather speaks for itself!
Mind Over Mood would be of special
interest to practitioners and clients.
However, I would recommend it
enthusiastical ly not only to those of us
facing a clinical diagnosis of anxiety,
depression or othe r challenge, but to all
people who are looking to find ways of
improving their lives, setting goals,
countering automatic thinking and
testing unhelpful assumptions about
the world. Buy and use this book –you
will be glad you did!
Liz Gulliford
Research Fellow at the Jubilee Centre
for Character and Virtues, School of
Education, University of Birmingham,
Edgbaston, UK.
PAGE178
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JOURNAL OF PUBLIC MENTALHEALTH
j
VOL. 15 NO. 3 2016
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