Activating Happiness: A Jump-Start Guide to Overcoming Low Motivation, Depression, or Just Feeling Stuck PDF
Preview Activating Happiness: A Jump-Start Guide to Overcoming Low Motivation, Depression, or Just Feeling Stuck
“Rachel Hershenberg writes with authority and compassion as she pres- ents the best techniques for moving toward a life we love. For years I’ve been writing about these principles and using them in my clinical prac- tice, and still I learned a tremendous amount from Activating Happiness about the best ways to help people get unstuck. I also benefited person- ally from this powerful and practical book, as countless readers no doubt will, too.” —Seth J. Gillihan, PhD, author of Retrain Your Brain: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in 7 Weeks “In her delightfully written and easy-to-read book, Activating Happiness, Rachel Hershenberg, a talented psychotherapist and depression researcher, offers five basic principles for counteracting low motivation, depression, or feeling stuck. The book is rich with strategies and tech- niques that people will find enormously doable, helpful, and effective when they feel depressed or want to prevent a downward depressive spiral. Readers of the book will quickly appreciate Hershenberg’s encour- agement to engage in activities that truly matter, savor the experiences, and use them to create the life one desires to lead. By following the evidence-based yet very practical recommendations and using the struc- tured activities offered in the book, people will find themselves living a more value-driven, meaningful, productive, and enjoyable life.” —Nadine J. Kaslow, PhD, ABPP, professor and vice chair in the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Emory University, and past president (2014) of the American Psychological Association “Rachel Hershenberg has decoded the latest science to uncover a secret that’s easy to miss: to beat depression, it’s not enough just to control negative emotions—you have to instill positive emotions as well. In Activating Happiness, Hershenberg walks you through several simple and doable strategies that just may be the step you’ve been missing in your battle with depression, low motivation, apathy, or other negative mood states. Take her advice to heart; your emotions will thank you for it.” —David F. Tolin, PhD, ABPP, author of Face Your Fears and Doing CBT “In Activating Happiness, Rachel Hershenberg sets a new standard for self-help books. Writing in a style that is both highly informative and cleverly engaging, Hershenberg is able to demystify the behavioral, cog- nitive, and interpersonal processes that can ‘lock’ people into depressive states, and provide a step-wise guide to a way out of the darkness. This is psychoeducation at its best!” —Michael Thase, MD, professor of psychiatry at Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and physician at the Philadelphia Veterans Affairs Medical Center “In Activating Happiness, Hershenberg provides a treasure trove of simple tips and strategies, along with examples and exercises for enhancing well-being that are based on heavily researched, cutting-edge scientific principles. The chapters are thoughtfully sequenced to teach practical skills, one step at a time, which can then be integrated together to address some of the most common issues that many of us struggle with at various points in our lives. A great resource—for both mental health providers’ self-help resource libraries and for the providers themselves!” —Simon A. Rego, PsyD, ABPP, chief psychologist and associate professor of clinical psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Albert Einstein College of Medicine/Montefiore Medical Center in New York, NY Activating Happiness A Jump-Start Guide to Overcoming Low Motivation, Depression, Just or Feeling Stuck RACHEL HERSHENBERG, P D h New Harbinger Publications, Inc. Publisher’s Note This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering psychological, financial, legal, or other professional services. If expert assistance or counseling is needed, the services of a competent professional should be sought. Distributed in Canada by Raincoast Books Copyright © 2017 by Rachel Hershenberg New Harbinger Publications, Inc. 5674 Shattuck Avenue Oakland, CA 94609 www.newharbinger.com Cover design by Amy Shoup Acquired by Ryan Buresh Edited by Jennifer Holder All Rights Reserved Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data on file This book is dedicated to the Veterans of the Be-Active and Be-Active Alumni groups. You brought these principles to life and touched my heart. Contents Foreword vii Introduction 1 Principle 1 Approach Rather Than Avoid 11 Principle 2 Self-Care Generates More Energy to Engage in Activities You Value 25 Principle 3 Procrastination Is an Emotional Decision to Avoid Discomfort 71 Principle 4 When Your Schedule Is Full, You Do More 111 Principle 5 Stay On Track by Sharing Momentary Victories 143 Conclusion 157 Acknowledgments 163 Notes 167 Foreword When asked to write a foreword to this book, the question I immediately asked myself was whether the field needs still another self-help book. So many have been written over the years, covering all sorts of topics. In my opinion, it is very hard to write a good self-help book. What is needed is a topic that is relevant and important to many readers; a broad and deep knowledge of the evidence that exists in the field; good clinical sense and experience; and the unique ability to communicate to the reader. Dr. Hershenberg has all this in her book, and she has been able to translate what we know professionally about how people change and present it in a clear, compassionate, person-to-person dialogue with the reader. This unique self- help book has all these many qualities and more. It is not only good—it is very good. Over the past fifty years, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) has created a major revolution in the field of psycho- therapy. Different from psychodynamic therapy, which essen- tially was based on clinical observation and experience, CBT has its roots in both research and clinical observation. The research makes use of basic information about how we as humans think, feel, and act, and it provides evidence of how this can all be put together in successful clinical treatments. What the research has shown is that CBT works in helping
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