The Mindfulness and Acceptance Workbook for Depression: Using Acceptance and Commitment Therapy to Move Through Depression and Create a Life Worth Liv

By Patricia J. Robinson and Kirk D. Strosahl

Book Overview

What if depression could lead to positive change? Written by acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) cofounder Kirk Strosahl and Patricia Robinson, this revised edition of the best-selling classic, The Mindfulness and Acceptance Workbook for Depression includes updated research on self-compassion, mindfulness, and neuroscience to help you live a more meaningful life. If you suffer from depression, you may feel like you are living under a perpetual raincloud, even when it's sunny outside. If left untreated, clinical depression can damage relationships, cause problems at work, lead to substance abuse, and even make it more difficult to overcome physical illnesses. You may feel too tired and scared to reach out for help, or you may try to avoid your feelings altogether. But you should know that there are little, effective ways you can overcome your depression, one day at a time. This fully revised and updated second edition of The Mindfulness and Acceptance Workbook for Depression will show you how changing daily behaviors and practicing new mindfulness skills can literally reshape your brain. Rather than fruitlessly trying to avoid your depression, you'll learn to focus on living a productive life by accepting your feelings. There are hundreds of books that will try to help you overcome or put an end to depression. But what if you could use your depression to change your life for the better? Your symptoms may be signals that something in your life needs to change. Learning to understand and interpret these signals is much more important than ignoring or avoiding them--approaches that only make the situation worse. This workbook uses techniques from acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) to offer a new treatment plan for depression that will help accept your feelings instead of fruitlessly trying to avoid them. This new edition will include skills based on new research and contributions from mindfulness, self-compassion, and neuroscience. Using the skills outlined in this book, you'll be able to work through your depression, experience greater peace and well-being, and go on to create a better life.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1626258457
• ISBN13: 9781626258457
• Release Date: May 2017
• Publisher: New Harbinger Publications
• Length: 328 Pages
• Weight: 1.49 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 7.9" x 9.9"

Customer Reviews

Great value, worth the money and the read - plus more

Time is scarce these days for me so choosing to read a book is something I do very carefully. From when I first skimmed through this book I could tell there were many valuable insights that I could apply in my life. Further the book has many useful exercises that have been tested and I found to be very worthwhile. It is really a book to learn about yourself and to create a vision / context for your life and make your life a success. I recommend it.

co-author of HeartPath Practitioner

I truly appreciate the content and process this book reflects in assisting individuals making sense of their depression through expression of an individual's life journey(case studies) and making choices to get better..... A real "health conscious" approach to addressing depressive symptoms and seeking ways of functionality and cope in life. This is an excellant manual for any health care practitioner's library.

easy to read

Excellent common sense, easy to read, inspiring book for those experiencing depression and/or professionals prepared to try something different to get something different for their clients. Highly recommend.

A workbook that actually works!

I've struggled with depression for the majority of my life and have tried many different tools to help me heal - for exmaple psychoanalysis, self-help books, homeopathy, antidepressants, acupuncture, etc. While I won't say that those tools did not help me (I really needed therapy to move through the most acute traumas of my past), I will say that this workbook has really helped me at this point in my life, helping me to understand how the depression has influenced my current behaviors and ways of coping with my past. Having been through nearly 3 years of therapy, and there working through past issues, I was ready to start taking action in my life *now* for a better future. This workbook has helped me frame what's most important to me, what I want to experience, and find ways to actually begin creating those changes for myself. I look forward to the personal time I spend with this workbook, and I feel I've benefitted greatly from it.

Same ACT channel, same ACT material, but many new techniques & tips

Strosahl and Robinson follow in the path of "Get Out of Your Mind and Into Your Life" but focus specifically on depression. A little New Age-y here & there, which initially might or might not be a turn-off, depending on how you feel about such things - but stick with it, because there's lots of powerful material here: - Strong and useful explanation of why we get depressed in the first place. Blaming biology or history doesn't help us; a more useful stance, as the authors explain, is to look not just at the pain in our lives, but at how we react to that pain. Avoidance pushes us into depression, acceptance and action pull us back into life. - A full chapter on how our mind tricks us with reasons & stories that seem to "make sense," but actually keep us stuck. - Nice accompanying CD with guided meditation exercises of various sorts, some for learning mindfulness skills, others for getting in touch with our intuition about what we really want to do in life. - Good closing chapters on building ACT habits that will last rather than fizzle. See full review on my blog - www.raburgess.com/wholesight - or just check it out for yourself. You'll be challenged, but you won't be sorry.