Book Review - Mind Over Mood

The first of a series of CBT-related book reviews begins with the seminal 'Mind Over Mood: Change How You Feel by Changing the Way You Think ' by Dennis Greenberger and Christine Padesky.

Mind Over Mood: Change How You Feel by Changing the Way You Think is a rare example of a book that is both a great resource for a practitioner, while also being ideal for 'self-help' purposes, where anyone can pick up the book and make a notable change to their life just by reading it and completing its exercises. Actually, labelling it a self-help book doesn’t do it justice – rather, it’s an exploratory manual to help deal with depression, anxiety, anger, guilt and shame using simple, but effective worksheets and strategies.

The book teaches people the basic components of CBT and how to benefit from the approach. Mind Over Mood is filled with worksheets for practising the skills used in CBT until they become second nature. The explanations are clear, include examples showing different people using the skills and have helpful summaries at the end of each chapter.

There are also studies that are illustrated throughout the book to show how thoughts-feelings-behaviours are intertwined and they're used as examples for each activity. There are separate chapters to skip ahead to for certain mental health issues(e.g., depression, anxiety), which are helpful in and of themselves.

This book explains the value of "thought records" - what they are and how to use them. Thought records help us to connect our reactions and emotions to our core beliefs and thoughts. By doing so, we can trace back why it is we react the way we do, and then consider an alternative (healthier) belief/thought. Mind Over Mood explains this process very clearly

This is a helpful, straightforward, and complete book/workbook combination for helping you think and feel better using CBT Whether or not you are interested in Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, this is a fantastic book for counsellors as well as the general public to deepen their insight into the connections between thoughts, feelings and behaviour.

It's not highly technical and doesn't have too much unnecessary jargon, but it's written really well so that it's quite easy to use. It includes blank charts for copying and lots of room for writing, but there is also a lot of psychoeducational material and guidance.

Highly recommended - 9/10