CBT Journal For Dummies

This is a nice little book if you're looking to change your thinking but don't have the time or funds to see a therapist for in person CBT. I've struggled with major depressive disorder for almost ten years and am doing very well on my current medication plan, but I wanted to do something a little bit more for myself. I'm in grad school so I don't have time to schedule time with a therapist during normal people hours so I figured this would be a good tool to try. It has been very helpful and a great way to change some of my unhealthy thinking. The meat of the book is laid out as a 12 week program with one activity or reflection per day. Some days will have exercises for you to do. Others have a paragraph on unhealthy thinking habits or traps we might get ourselves into. They all come with plenty of space to reflect and every seven days there's an extra couple pages to use as writing space. Whether or not you currently are suffering from a mental illness, this is a great book to give a try. Everyone can benefit from a little self care and working toward more productive thinking patterns.All this said, this book does not replace an actual therapist. If you are really struggling and your negative thoughts are having a disrupting effect on your life, you'll want to see someone in person. This book can be a great companion, but it will not replace a trained medical professional. Your treatment team may also decide that you need medication or different forms of therapy. They're professionals and they work with this every day. They'll come up with a plan to get you better!If you're not able to wait to see someone and need immediate help because you're in danger of hurting yourself, please make sure you call emergency services or a crisis hotline.

I ordered this book on a whim, and am pleasantly surprised. It is lucid, well written, and the exercises don’t make a huge demand on my time. However, my major complaint is the size of the book. I find it very difficult to write on the journal pages, which is kind of the whole point of the book, because the lines are too thick and the page size too small. This may not bother other readers/writers—not all hands grip the pen like I do—but it’s been a deal breaker for me. I work around the problem by writing in another book, but that makes hard to review the progress across the exercises.

Excellent

As you walk through this it slows your thought process down so you can reflect upon your self without someone actually telling you in an insulting way you need to change your ways!

I love this!

I love it and bought 3 more for my family and friends

great work book

The book has very little CBT activities in it. The first part of the book was more helpful the the rest of the book.

I bought it for my husband in combination with the CBT Workbook for Dummies and the CBT Therapy for Dummies workbook. He found no use for this journal. It's a watered down incomplete version of the CBT Workbook for Dummies. It's oversimplified, there is no reason to reflect or write down the answers to the exercises as it's common sense. I think this journal was added to the CBT Therapy Dummies series to exploit the selling power of the main book.

A very good journal and nice accompaniment to the main 'Dummies CBT' book though also more than justifies its existence when used in isolation.Of course everything has its limitations and talking therapies in conjunction or not with this journal are almost always more preferable to working through ones problems in isolation but it is a good starting/finishing point. I think it is well constructed and clear and will help to breakdown and crystalise many peoples specific concerns in the first instance.One of the things I like about it as compared to print off sheets or jus using blank sheets of paper is that it is very structured. Structure is an incredibly overlooked but important part of maintaining ones participation and interest in a self help format.It is written in a really pleasant encouraging way. I guess the only criticism I would have is that sometimes it may ask the participant to undertake some written exercise without really providing any context as to what the person may derive from doing so. There is enough positive stuff to focus on in here though so I think it's a good buy. Good luck.

I am actually filling in the empty pages in this book, in spite of being one who detests writing diaries, journals etc - anything that is about feelings (eeew!). It is straightforward and sensible. It is not making me feel embarrassed! Am about 1/4 of the way through: would not say that my funny old head is now in tip-top order, but this book has provided good food for thought, and I am intending to finish it.

Perfect super lighting delivery as I currently having C.B.T via local nhs is a valuable item to help overcome those black/grey areas. I recommend this book the cover saying CBT Journal for Dummies is loose and it you dont want people to see what your writing in then it easy to remove without damage to the book, full of useful tips and full explainations of what cbt is.

Great book recommended by my counselling college and also used with my clients.I purchased this book to help a friend who is suffering anxiety and panic attacks.