Freeing Yourself from Chronic Unhappiness (Book & CD)

This is a wonderful read for anyone who struggles with depression and would like to try a new approach, a holistic approach. A lot of therapists don't realize (or at least don't practice from the point of view that) people are multidimensional; we are mind, body, AND spirit. We have physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual components. I love this book, because it addresses all of the aspects. The accompanying cd is wonderful. I'm a mind, body, spirit counselor and I use this book (in my lending library) for all of my clients who present as depressed. The meditations are good for anyone, too, not just people who have depression.

This is a well written and easy to understand account of how to use mindfulness to manage depression. The real life cases help illustrate what is being taught. It's much cheaper than having to take a class or go through a program if you are on a limited budget. The techniques were effect for me to reduce my symptoms and mindfulness is now part of what I do to manage my lifelong struggle with depression. I think others would find it helpful also.

After struggling with depression for years, seeing numerous counselors, and trying several anti-depressives, this book has helped me more than all of it. I've always wanted to understand where this problem comes from and how it is perpetuated and this book explains that very well. In addition, it explains how one can intervene the destructive practice of rumination. Even better, it convinces you to forgive yourself and gently persuades you to not give up.

At the recommendation of my therapist, I picked up this book. It resonated very well with me. I'm halfway through, and have learned so much about my depression. I am working on the exercises in the book, and I can say I feel an improvement in my mood.

The mindful approach is helpful in many settings. I was, however, deeply disappointed to find that the audio files cannot be used on my Kindle. Why advertise an extra that cannot be accessed? Why not make these available some other way?

This book should be standard text books taught in school. It would literally change our world we live in. It should also be mandatory for prison inmates; it would certainly reduce dramatically the chances of released inmates returning to prison. A very liberating book!

As a psychiatric nurse, I have recommended it to many clients and use if for my own mental health as well. It is very practical and common sense but offers profound advice for the "over thinking and over analyzing" that is too common in psychotherapy.

This was recommended by my psychiatrist. It is wonderful. Many other sources ask you to try to keep anxiety away which just makes it worse
When you say hello to it, it loses its power
The cd is excellent and there are week by week things to do

I might have had higher expectations and thought I would learn something new. I have practice meditation and just got to hear the first part...quite boring and hard to follow. If someone wants to learn about mindfulness this is a good book.

Deeply depressed after divorce, I have spent the last year looking for ways to overcome despair. This book is a good tool to ease the mind, to help a person live in the moment. The audio files involving yogic techniques are quite helpful. It's a long haul, but we don't have to be sad. We must act, and this text helps us to see who we are as well as who we wish to be.

As a therapist who incorporates mindfulness practice into therapy with certain clients, I've found this book to be very helpful. I provide more brief therapy and have found this book to be a great adjunct to learning mindfulness skills in counseling. This book is really for anyone who wants to learn more about mindfulness. Regardless of whether a person has depression or not doesn't matter, this book provides a great introduction.

A little repetitious, a little labored - after all - if you're going to rip off Buddhist practices, why not just keep it to the point. All the stuff about their "laboratories" seemed a bit pretentious. However, given it's base of knowledge, their formula works. So, although the packaging is a bit disingenuous, the basic prescription is right on. To beat depression, get out of your head. Pay attention to your body and the five senses. The enclosed CD is also helpful if you can get by the heavy New York accents of the authors/ narrators and the erudite - not down to earth - verbiage. So, all in all - they hit on the right formula for getting out of depression, although the manner of delivery is a bit to slog through. Worthwhile if you are depressed and want a way out.

This book has been really powerful for me. It helped me understand the underlying thinking and behaviors that cause anxiety which leads to depression. The book also then helps you understand how to re-engineer your thought patterns. I really think it is beneficial.

I have started to read more and more about mindfulness. John Teasdale is referenced often in other books I have read. In this book his knowledge is combined with others practical approach and guidance to offer many different insights and exercise I can use throughout the day. Highly recommended read.

...is usually the beginning of a very annoying sentence, but in this case, you should listen. This book represents the new standard of care for depression and attention deficit in adults. Well worth your time and your work.

This is a fantastic book on meditation for new comers and folks with experience alike. They do a great job with both "why" and "how". Look into the other work by this team of authors. There's a solid science base to their methods, which can yield physical, emotional and spiritual benefits.

MY HUSBAND SUFFERS FROM CLINICAL DEPRESSION LABELED AS MAJOR DEPRESSIVE DISORDER AND HIS COUNSELOR SUGGESED HE INVENST IN SOME SORT OF AUDIO HELP SINCE HE HAS TROUBLE CONCENTRATING ON READING MATERIAL. THESE CD'S HAVE BEEN EXTREMELY HELPFUL FOR HIM TO BETTER UNDERSTAND HIS DEPRESSION AND THE MAN SPEAKING ON THESE CD'S IS VERY RELAXING. WE RECOMMEND THEM TO ANYONE NEEDING HELP FOR DEPRESSION IN AN AUDIO FORMAT.

There is a meditative technique in this book called the "Three Minute Breathing Space", which I have used for a number of my yoga therapy clients. One client used that technique at home to help her through a panic attack. This book is good for dealing with anger, absent-mindedness, procrastination, etc., as well as depression. It is required reading for my yoga therapy certification from Essential Yoga Therapy.

This book is an excellent guide for anyone who wants to improve the quality of their life, anyone who has noticed that the mind does not only solve problems but also creates them because we reject the present moment. We may have noticed also that our thoughts judge and reject our feelings and emotions.

The authors offer basic and easy to implement techniques to help us live in the present moment. The present moment is a difficult and misunderstood concept that the book analyzes in a way that makes sense even to a westerner. They illustrate how distorted deep rooted thinking and emotionally reactive patterns are constantly at work evaluating the moment, rejecting it and striving for another moment that will be better, and hopefully replace the one we reject now. But making friends with our bodies is the key because many of the signals that color our opinions about our current situations are streaming in from the body and sensory experiences.

Real change, they point out, can only happen if we overcome these habitual automatic responses to the present moment. When we spiral into a depression or simply a very negative mind state, "our habitual efforts to extricate ourselves, far from freeing us, actually keep us locked in the pain we're trying to escape".

The body is a key player that we tend to completely ignore. The authors really make this point clear when they explain how our aversion responses, the "get me out of here!" reaction to things happening in our lives stems from an instinct ("avoidance system") of the brain that was designed by nature long ago to cope with immediate threats from our environment, such as a lion chasing us. This system now operates not only to external immediate dangers but to our own internal emotions. As soon as we have an emotion that we've been conditioned to label 'bad', we try to flee--or fight it. We are in a fight or flight mode almost continually. But rather than running physically we run mentally with old thinking patterns that try to explain away the feelings. The mental immediately affects the physical, reinforcing its negative input. If you suffer from body aches--head aches, stomach pain, shoulder aches--due to anxiety, this is the book for you.

The authors do a great job of showing how body-emotions-thoughts are linked creating and sustaining various negative feedback loops.
It's a must read for everyone who wants to improve the quality of life.

I thoroughly enjoyed the book because of the way it handles a very difficult and often stigmatised topic. The book balances the need for professional input from health care workers on the one hand and mindfulness practitioners on the other. I use the book on a regular basis, having read and re-read crucial sections for practical advice.

This new perspective on how depression developes and becomes so deeply embeded, functioning as an automatic default response regardless of how hard one tries to overcome its insidious hold gives tools that actually work and removes the shame associated with it.

I really think this method works, and have seen profound differences. Those are described in the 5 star reviews here on the store. I wanted to add that if you download the Kindle version, you may or may not be able to play the audio files. They only work on Kindle Fire and Kindle for the Ipod. I could not play them on my Nexus or my desktop Kindle app. If you purchase the book straight from the publisher's website, it costs more but you get MP3s that you can download to any device.

A quick caveat to put my review in some perspective. If you are coming to the mindfulness concept cold, then this book might be of great value. If, however, you are familiar with mindfulness, then this book is basically about 40 pages of information on depression, much of which are patient scenarios, and then a long overview of mindfulness practices.
Having already read Zinn's "Wherever You Go, There You Are," I was looking for a book that delved more deeply into depression and specific examples of how to use mindfulness to deal with depression. Instead, the bulk of the book is an introduction to mindfulness with, at least to me, few examples of tying specific mindfulness practices to dealing with specific depression issues.
That said, there is some value to the book, especially in the introduction. I like how the authors emphasize that depression isn't something you can think or reason your way out of and that trying to do so might just make it worse.
In general, this book, like many self-help books, seemed like a long magazine article padded to book length.

I would recommend this book to anyone who has experienced depression or even anyone who wants to feel more connected and whole in their life. The CD is invaluable and I use it even over a year later. This book, if it is the first you have ever read of this type, can actually change your life and take you to a place you never thought possible. How many other things can promise you that?

Very short review. It is ridiculously simple to do mindful meditation and it works.
The book itself is graciously and kindly written in a way that reflects what the book teaches, so just reading the book feels good.

This book was recommended to me by a psychologist, who said it was the best book she had found. I have not finished reading it yet, but so far I would recommend it because it seems to make a lot of sense. Certainly, it makes better sense to be mindful than to fill your body with chemicals.

This book is incredible! It has helped to ease my pain and suffering from Fibromyalgia and Chronic Pain Syndrome. I recommend this book to anyone regardless of their having an illness. This book is a key to a more peaceful, meaningful life. Accept yourself as you are and know that you always have a center already within you- your breath!

I have used Mindfulness techniques with many clients in my private practice, but in the last couple of years have begun working with mentally ill inmates in a maximum security prison. These inmates are often depressed and feel out of control. I was looking for a way to help them understand their feelings and regain a sense of control over their circumstances. They have responded very positively and are applying the principles to their lives. We recently started a meditation time where they meditate at the same time of day even though they are in separate cells and not able to directly communicate with each other. This has been a powerful, positive experience for them. The book has been a hit with a very tough audience.

The book looked like it would help me address depression in a creative unique way and I have not been disappointed. Though some of the explanations are a little obtuse they are comprehensive in their coverage of appropriateness.