A while back, I was doing extensive research before writing up a discussion on the use of cognitive behavioral therapy. I went to the original texts by Albert Ellis and Aaron Beck, and they were great for theoretical info, but this book was THE BEST for simple, easy to understand discussion of how to use the principles and techniques of cognitive behavioral therapies to help control anxiety, depression, self esteem, moods and other aspects of your life. It provides short, simple explanations and well thought through exercises you can use to take great charge of your life.

It is an excellent book for therapists who want to have a quick referral resource for patients and it is a super self help book.

Like the authors say, it is not a replacement for treatment by a doctor, but it sure goes a long way for helping some basic issues. I've used the techniques listed here along with biofeedback interventions (see more about them and how to read articles I've written on my website listed in my profile)

Bottom line-- for self help in cognitive therapy, consider this the layman's bible, and an essential bibliotherapy resource for therapists..

I began using this book in conjunction with a therapist and did quite well. When my therapy ended, I bought my own copy, since one can use this book alone, as well. Simple and clearly understandable, I found the book an immense help.

While for some problems the authors do NOT recommend using the book without a trained therapist, for many with more easily treated problems it is a wonderful program of self-help.

I used the book for cognitive behavioral therapy for depression and it was most effective.

Starting with the premise that our thoughts create our feelings, the authors offer lots of ways to learn to listen to what our thoughts are telling us. They explain the techniques used in cognitive therapy and give practical steps for improving your life. I've used this book myself to help me get through some bad times, and given copies to several friends. I used to buy the self help books for a big library so I've seen a lot of them; this is probably my favorite for all around usefulness.

I lived and sailed Narragansett Bay all my life and never knew the history behind all I was looking at. Excellent book and great fishing section!

I always wondered what those old ruins were hidden on overgrown islands, the history of secluded anchorages.... Great naturalist, along the shore information. Excellent cruising guide!

This book is a practical and thoughful primer on how to listen and how to talk to improve communication skills. It is comprehensive and direct-- with no "jaw".

This book briefly discusses important aspects of communication; including proper listening and getting your message through without noises or communication blocks that hinder the communication process. Besides, it describes how to communicate with your mate, children and how to improve your assertiveness.

The discussion is concise, but the important aspects are very well discussed. This a very valuable book that should be read by everybody who has any concern about achieving a better communication.

The authors have created a very in depth but easy to read psycho analysis of poor communication skills and ways for individuals to help themselves change their attitude and methods of communicating with others.

Listening is probably the most important skill of communication that most of people lack. Many do not even think of listening as communication. I was guilty of trying to ancticipate or guess what the other person was going to say, already working out my reactive answer and therefore not hearing the last half of the conversation. It takes a bit of self control and discipline to be able to really listen.

People have a habit of not coming to the point for fear of being rejected or hurting the other persons feelings. The person giving the message learns how to take the sting out of the message by not blaming or accusing but still being direct. It is a different way of wording your sentences but I was amazed at the way this technique can defuse a tense situation.

If you find that you are sometimes missunderstood or fear of the reaction from telling your boss, wife, girlfriend or work colleague what you really think, then I would highly recommend purchasing this book. It is a great book for everybody.

This is a self-help book that cuts through all the big words and psychological concepts and gets immediately into helping you change. There is something for everybody here -- parents, teens, managers, and children. Their explanations of screwed up communication patterns are concise and their "solutions" are elegant. One of the few self-help books I have bothered to keep on my bookshelve. Worth every penny.

I ordered this book as a deal with Thoughts and feelings and found out they were the same book! Nowhere in any of the literature does it say they are the same. I returned this one as the paperback is easier to read. Don't buy both books!

Doing the workbook is one of the most beneficial and healingsteps I took in my life. Thoughts an Feelings is a reminder thateveryday life has a lot of natural confusion in it, and it shouldn't wreck our self esteem.

I would recommend it to the most severe cases of anxiety attacks.

Thoughts and Feelings teaches you that YOU CAN DO IT ON YOUR OWN. That way, you NEVER feel helpless again END

Last year, I was going through a very stressful time in completing business school. After two years of 20 unit semesters, I HIT THE WALL. I couldn't stay awake, I couldn't sleep, I was drinking, smoking, and could barely drive a car. Get the picture?

So I phoned for a therapist referal that would consult me by phone. After one call, the therapist sent me a package with this book.

All I had to do was read a chapter, and I knew everything was going to be OK.

Doing the workbook is one of the most beneficial and healing steps I took in my life. Thoughts an Feelings is a reminder that everyday life has a lot of natural confusion in it, and it shouldn't wreck our self esteem.

I would recommend it to the most severe cases of anxiety attacks, because it saved me from taking all those other drugs, and wasting so much on therapy.

Thoughts and Feelings teaches you that YOU CAN DO IT ON YOUR OWN. That way, you NEVER feel helpless again

You know, I really like Patrick McGrath. This is the fourth of his books that I've read and each one has taken a distinctive path in my admiration and disappointment. As a result, Martha Peake is nothing new. Let this be known: the prose stylings of this novel are brilliant; full of twisting mazes of language, spinning (almost) out of control around the winding dark corners of predictable gothic dialect, the book is a near smashing success and, ultimately, a tragic failure.

It's a shame when an author of such impeccable talent comes up with a great idea for a story and bogs it down with his already done narrative format. I wish Mr. McGrath would outgrow his still adolescent 'gothic' pretentions and come into his own with a story (perhaps much like the one told in this almost great novel) that shows not just lingual superiority, but a true sense of storytelling and narrative innovation. I know you can do it, Paddy. Please don't let your still lingering fans down.

Patrick McGrath is a master stylist, and it is his skill with language that allows him to pull off successfully in Martha Peake what could have been a very bad novel. The first potential problem is indeed the style itself, which verges on self-parody. To illustrate, the opening scene has the narrator - whom we never learn much about - crossing a dank English moor alone at night to visit a ghostly mansion, where he meets his old and wizened uncle who, over a sputtering candle, starts telling a mysterious tale about the book's heroine, Martha Peake, and her tormented father, Harry. You can see the unsatisfactory level to which this might descend, and in fact the portion of the book that unfolds in England - more than half of it - is written in this kind of exaggerated super-Gothic style. But the technique works, at least if you have a tolerance for that sort of thing, because Mr. McGrath is so very good at it. The other potential problem - and I myself found this more troublesome - is the quirky and labored symbolism that pervades the novel. It is essentially about the American Revolution, and the symbolic contrast between creepy, death-ridden England and the vitality of revolutionary America underlies the entire story. Harry Peake is a deformed hunchback, and the author devotes so much attention to Harry's hump that it's clearly meant to represent something more than itself. Yet I have to confess to never quite getting it. Moreover, the plot culminates in a weird surprise ending that twists the book's meaning and, for me anyway, aggravated the sense of confusion about its thematic content. I can't recommend Martha Peake wholeheartedly - some readers will hate it - but I found it an engrossing work despite it's oddness and its flaws.

Not since Sheri Holman's The Dress Lodger, have I read a novel so wonderful in form, characterization, and setting. McGrath, who writes neo-Gothics, has written his best novel in Martha Peake. While some readers may find his narrations taxing, it is precisely those narrations that give this novel its genius. The heroine of this dark story is one Martha Peake. Slowly her life is revealed, and we see Martha's fate approaching with an aching horror. I cannot tell you the plot here [too intricate], but if you liked Wuthering Heights, you will love this novel. It has the same kind of narration, the same darkness of setting and soul, the same intensity of fate. Martha is plagued with her own strange Heathcliff, one Harry Peake, only he reminds me more of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. What more can I say? It's a brilliant novel formed out of collected fragments and memories, a powerfully written story that you won't ever forget. It's the kind you expect to hear "told by firelight." It will definitely leave you with a delightful shiver. History, love, death, courage, fate -- you will find them all here!