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Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: Techniques for Retraining Your Brain Kindle Edition
by Jason M Satterfield (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 62 ratings
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Why is it so hard to lose weight, stop smoking, or establish healthy habits? Why do couples argue about the same issues over and over? Why do so many people lie awake at night, stricken with worry and anxiety? Why is it so difficult to come to terms with a loved one’s death, even if it’s after a long illness?
The answers to these questions—and the path to lasting change in your life—lie in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), a well-tested collection of practical techniques for managing moods and modifying undesirable behaviors through self-awareness, critical analysis, and taking steps toward gradual, goal-oriented change.
CBT illuminates the links between thoughts, emotions, behaviors, and physical health and uses those connections to develop concrete plans for self-improvement. Built on a solid foundation of neurological and behavioral research, CBT is not simply about treating mental illness. It is an approach almost anyone can use for promoting greater mental health and improving quality of life.
In the 24 engaging half-hour lectures of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: Techniques for Retraining Your Brain, you’ll build a robust and effective self-improvement toolkit with the expert guidance of Professor Jason M. Satterfield of the University of California, San Francisco. You will explore CBT’s roots in Socratic and stoic philosophy, build a toolkit of CBT techniques, and review the latest research about its outcomes. Additionally, this intriguing and practical course allows you to take on the roles of medical student, physician, psychologist, and patient.
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220 pages
Language
English
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On Kindle Scribe
Publisher : The Great courses (July 6, 2023)
Publication date : July 6, 2023
Language : English
File size : 1751 KB
Simultaneous device usage : Unlimited
Text-to-Speech : Enabled
Screen Reader : Supported
Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
X-Ray : Not Enabled
Word Wise : Enabled
Sticky notes : On Kindle Scribe
Print length : 220 pagesCustomer Reviews:
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 62 ratings
The Great Courses
It all began with just a few videotapes—and a brilliant inspiration.
Tom Rollins, the founder of The Great Courses, was a law student at Harvard University and was facing an important exam on the U.S. Federal Rules of Evidence—an exam for which he wasn't prepared.
Dreading the notoriously boring subject but knowing his success depended on understanding the material, Rollins obtained videotapes of 10 lectures by a noted authority on the subject, Professor Irving Younger. Rollins planted himself in front of his television late at night and put the first tape into his VCR. What he discovered changed his life.
The tapes were unlike anything Rollins had experienced in his Harvard lecture halls. Professor Younger's lectures were outrageously insightful, impressively thorough, and engagingly witty. Most important: They hammered home the concepts in a way that made the subject both accessible and interesting. They made learning not a chore to be accomplished but an adventure to be experienced.
Rollins played all 10 hours of those lectures nearly nonstop. A few days later he passed his exam and went on to make an "A" in the course.
He never forgot the unique power of recorded lectures by a great teacher—the way that a bright mind could ignite a passion for lifelong learning. And years later, in 1990, Rollins founded The Great Courses to share that unforgettable experience with the rest of the world.
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4.5 out of 5 stars
Top reviews
Top reviews from the United States
David L. Troup
5.0 out of 5 stars Very helpful and thoroughReviewed in the United States on January 19, 2018
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Loved the book and the links listed by the author. Would like it in book form
6 people found this helpful
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Ellen K. Kremkus
5.0 out of 5 stars Five StarsReviewed in the United States on September 26, 2017
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Excellent approach and information. Thank you Mr. Satterfeld!
8 people found this helpful
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P. J. Anderson
5.0 out of 5 stars Great content. Great therapist. Lovely person.Reviewed in the United States on January 11, 2023
I'm so glad this man walks the face of the earth. He is very sweet and empathetic with his patients, and has a wonderful understanding of mental and emotional processes. Sure, the course is long....but you don't need to watch all of it. Just watch the parts that you are interested in. So far I have found most helpful some mantras that he identified to get through difficult times: Peace. Freedom. Courage. Grace. Thank you so much, Dr. Satterfield!
One person found this helpful
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Lawnut
2.0 out of 5 stars Not that great...Reviewed in the United States on May 21, 2016
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Could be better.
3 people found this helpful
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Piaw Na
4.0 out of 5 stars Very interesting, despite initial confusion about who the target audience isReviewed in the United States on November 3, 2016
The subtitle to the Great Courses's video series for Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is "Techniques for Retraining Your Brain." That sounded so exciting that I checked it out from the library. The instructor, Professor Jason M. Satterfield, is affiliated with UCSF, so comes with great credentials.
The target audience for this course isn't clear. Is it for the person looking to become a therapist? Is it for a patient looking to see which type of therapy suits him or her best? Is it for someone looking to acquire new habits? That's completely unclear. As a result I spent the first couple of episodes kinda confused, but then got into it.
The idea behind cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is that traditional therapy is open-ended, doesn't have any hard end-points, and all too focused on digging deep into the human psyche without providing any relief from the symptoms the patient is suffering from. That's great for producing a continuous stream of revenue from a few patients, but if your goal is to help as many people as possible, it's unsatisfying.
CBT differs from this in having completely different goals:
Specific treatment of symptoms and behaviors that the patient would like to change
Providing tools for the patient to use, so that when he/she leaves therapy, he/she can continue to use those tools to prevent relapse or help himself/herself.
Specific end point in mind. Since the goal is self-sufficiency and self-treatment, once those symptoms are relieved, the patient gets off the therapy, with only occasional checkups.
The tools CBT provide are very secular and focused:
Capture a thought diary, so that triggering situations can be analyzed and dissected at a distance.
Note that thoughts are opinions, and strength of emotion doesn't necessarily mean that the opinions are true.
Attack those opinions using three approaches: (1) experiment with behavioral changes to prove those opinions false (2) stand from a distance to see if you can reinterpret the same events in a different way (3) make a prediction of whether you'll enjoy a new activity, and then re-evaluating that activity after you've done it to show that what you rated as being unenjoyable turned out to be good
Throughout the videos, the course examines 3 patients struggling with different behavioral issues: one of severe shyness, one with managing anger, and one with depression. We watch each of them deal with their problems, run experiments with changing behavior, and reflecting and evaluating the results of their experiments. Throughout the program, the patients are treated with respect, sympathy, and encouraged to solve their problems through a toolbox. There's no hocus-pocus involved. Some of the exercises involved:
Muscle relaxation (progressive relaxation of muscle)
A mindfulness based approach of meditation --- including talking to yourself. This seemed very new-agey to me, but hey, if it works, it works.
Throughout the entire course, Dr. Satterfield provides pointers to further books, studies and results. Don't expect to be super impressed by the numbers. A success rate of 30% in treatment is considered good as far as psychotherapy is concerned. If you think about it, that makes sense. Think about trying to change a habit, like eating less calories so you can lose weight. Lots of people try, but very few manage to do so. Illnesses like depression, a hair-trigger temper, or severe shyness would be even harder.
Nevertheless, it's an interesting no-nonsense approach that I'd never even heard of before. It's well worth checking out, especially if (like me), your former impression of psychotherapy is Freudian mumbo-jumbo.
18 people found this helpful
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Gymbeaux
VINE VOICE
5.0 out of 5 stars SO - SO INTERESTING; Can help you more than you realizeReviewed in the United States on January 17, 2018
AMAZING! I have done a lot of reviews of books, videos, courses, etc over the past 30 years. Almost all of them very positive because if they were NOT good, I would not have finished read, watching or participating. The best review of this course would be in the form of a question. When you read/watch something, how often do you look ahead to see how much time is left before it is over? That would signal to me that the material being covered may be somewhat interesting but not interesting enough to hold my attention throughout the presentation. This course WAS NOT ONE OF THOSE TIMES. In fact I don’t remember ever looking ahead to see how much time was left. There were 24 lessons and I was trying to ascertain how I could watch more lessons in less time. My original goal was to watch just one a day. I have been watching 2 and 3 a day, total time for each lesson about 30 minutes. What does that tell you?
Every course has multiple outcomes in regards to what each student takes away from the course and they are rarely the same. This is not about grading the course but rather what each student could benefit by taking the course. In my case, it was multi-layered. As a 33 year real estate broker, I saw definite potential for people in management to learn new interviewing skills – THAT WAS A BIG ONE FOR ME! Even though I am now fully retired, I can see where this course would have helped me tremendously in becoming a better interviewer by asking better questions that would get a person to think more deeply about the subject matter. So for management it would be a definite positive course to take.
Then there was me as an individual. Did I have personal/emotional problems to resolve? Hard to admit this but yes, I had several. I have been athletic for most of my life and was average to better than average in most sporting events I participated in. Then came all the pains, knees, shoulders and I worked through those but then came the back and that affects almost everything I do including doing no activity at all. So this course applied to me in so many ways some of which I immediately recognized because of the course, not because I had thought of them prior to taking the course.
We all have known people who have issues and this course has enlightened me to first recognize that people do have real issues and provided me with better ways for me to both help them and cope with them myself. The lecturer Dr. Satterfield included film clips of real and actual patients that he has interviewed. I found these clips to be mesmerizing and made the lessons fly by.
There were times during the presentations that the Doctor used terms that I was unfamiliar with and at first left me questioning what he was talking about. In almost all cases he later would explain what he meant and in most cases used graphics to further explain. I have no medical training whatsoever other than CPR in the military. This course provides the student when a tremendous overview of so many medical issues, physical, emotional and mental and then how this course and more specifically CBT, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy can and probably will help them.
I do not believe that there is a person who cannot benefit, on multiple personal levels, from taking this course. That answers the first question I use to review anything, would I recommend it to others? ABSOLUTELY! Would I give it as a gift to others? Again, ABSOLUTELY!!!! Will I take the course again? Since the individual lessons are targeted to specific issues, I will ABSOLUTELY revisit several of the lessons as they would apply to me.
27 people found this helpful
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Camber
4.0 out of 5 stars Limited, but still worthwhile
Reviewed in the United States on October 1, 2016
Dr. Satterfield strikes me as a smart and caring clinician, and I think his clinical vignettes in the course work well. He clearly put a lot of effort into this course, and I suspect that he gets good results as a therapist. I certainly benefitted from going through this course.
However, the course does have two key limitations.
First, the target audience for the course isn’t clear. Sometimes it seems to address individuals who want to help themselves, other times it seems to address clinicians and therapists who want to get a basic understanding of what Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is. Neither audience will get detailed guidance for its needs.
The second limitation is somewhat related to the first. CBT itself, while clearly helpful for many people and many problems, is based on a limited understanding of how the mind works (more precisely, the mind-body). In that sense, CBT can sometimes come across as a bit superficial and not all that different from generic ‘self-help’. If you expect this course to provide eureka insights, you may be disappointed.
But, again, I did benefit from this well-intentioned course, and I’m sure that many others will benefit from it as well, particularly individuals dealing with chronic stress, anxiety, depression, anger, sleep problems, pain, etc. which have reached levels which warrant attention (if these problems are severe, probably best to skip this course and immediately seek professional help).
Here are my notes from the course:
• CBT has roots in ancient philosophy, especially Stoic philosophy.
• CBT sets goals related to well-being, based on an understanding of what can and can’t be changed in terms of cognitions, behaviors, and emotions, and uses methods based on rationality and empirical data in order to achieve those goals. Quantitative assessments are helpful in gauging baseline starting points and progress towards goals. CBT is arguably more pragmatic than theoretical.
• CBT can be done with or without the help of a therapist, and can be combined with other methods. CBT can require considerable effort, can take time to show results, and may require ‘maintenance’ in order to sustain results. The results of CBT correspond to changes in brain images.
• CBT focuses on how particular events trigger automatic and dysfunctional thoughts, behaviors, emotions, and possibly also physiological responses in individuals, and then tries to modify those relationships between triggers and reactions; much of the emphasis is on changing ‘habits of mind’. Third-wave therapy, such as Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), differs from standard CBT by focusing on the process of cognition rather than the content of cognition.
• In general, CBT methods include being resilient, cognitively flexible reappraisal of situations (which may involve looking at the big picture, endowing our experiences with meaning, and viewing adversity as an opportunity to learn and grow), cognitively flexible reappraisal of our ability and resources for coping with situations, taking action to change situations (and accepting when situations can’t be changed), seeking help from others, distracting ourselves, cardiovascular exercise, and relaxation methods such deep slow breathing, guided imagery, and mindful meditation.
• ACT differs somewhat from standard CBT by emphasizing not ruminating and wrestling with seemingly unwanted thoughts, behaviors, emotions, and physiological responses – which may actually exacerbate them – and instead accepting them in a detached way while staying in the present moment (like observing clouds passing in the sky). Mindfulness, including mindful meditation, is a way to achieve this state of being.
• Stress is normal, but elevated chronic stress is abnormal and mentally and physically unhealthy. It can trigger or aggravate many other problems such as anxiety, depression, anger, pain, etc. Work is the biggest source of chronic stress for many people, and taking vacations is one of the best ways to recover from burnout.
• Anxiety disorders (phobias, panic, social anxiety, generalized anxiety, PTSD, etc.) are quite common. A specific CBT method which is often effective in treating anxiety disorders is exposure therapy, in which individuals expose themselves to situations which trigger anxiety until they eventually become desensitized to those situations. By contrast, avoidance of those situations can worsen the associated anxiety, and the anxiety can become generalized to a wider range of triggering situations.
• Depression is also quite common. It often spirals downward into increasingly negative thoughts, emotions, and inactivity. Fortunately, it usually remits on its own within one or two years, but it can recur, and each recurrence makes another one more likely. CBT methods aim to break the downward spiral and reverse it.
• Anger stems from feeling unjustly treated, and tends to pick up steam if not controlled. Specific CBT methods for managing anger including not taking things personally, not magnifying things out of proportion, distracting ourselves, and relaxation.
• Genetic predisposition accounts for about 30% of our health outcomes. That leaves about 70% open to other factors, and CBT methods can improve our health, including our ability to prevent and manage chronic diseases (which affect about half the US population).
• Sleep problems are very common, can be worsened by stress, anxiety, depression, etc., and this interaction can become a vicious cycle. Specific CBT methods for improving sleep include progressive muscular relaxation, guided or unguided imagery, and other relaxation methods. Medications can help with sleep, but the benefit may be limited because they may not restore good sleep architecture. CBT methods are generally more effective than medications for improving sleep.
• Chronic pain is fairly common, especially headaches, back pain, arthritis, and other musculoskeletal pain. Chronic pain and chronic stress can interact in a vicious cycle. Most CBT methods can help with chronic pain, and distraction and relaxation can be particularly helpful.
• In general, social relationships are essential, and online relationships aren’t a substitute for live relationships.
• Having an ‘attitude of gratitude’ has many benefits, including more positive overall emotions (people tend to be happiest in their twenties and sixties), better health, sounder sleep, less anxiety and depression, more kindness towards others, ability to think more broadly and creatively, and greater life satisfaction.
113 people found this helpful
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Amazon Customer
2.0 out of 5 stars 12 hours 18 lectures that could be boiled down into an hour and essentialy state : Be self aware and keep a journal
Reviewed in the United States on March 14, 2016
This is basically a college course that could have been taught in 3 lectures extended out to 18. Maybe on average , 3-5 minutes is relevant on each lecture. It does break down Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in terms of examples of how its applied, and amazingly repetitive examples of using it for certain issues : fear, anxiety, etc. But I basically learned nothing new whatsoever about CBT, about why it works and how it re-programs the brain, about specific places where it differs from just asking someone to be self aware and keep a notebook.
Unless you are going to be a psychologist who is using CBT every day and needs very specific pointers for very specific cases that are present in maybe 1 out of each 30 min interval, this audio book has no value.
36 people found this helpful
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Amir
4.0 out of 5 stars Audio Book is not enough!
Reviewed in the United States on September 17, 2017
There are a lot of FREE material mentioned in this book, but when you listen to the audiobook you kinda miss the opportunity to go back and collect them all. Is there a way to have all of them in one page? I have not find it. That's why I think that audiobook alone is not being packaged perfectly. Other than that the material and the session is great.
13 people found this helpful
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Adam Leech
5.0 out of 5 stars Don't just meditate your way to a better life!
Reviewed in the United States on September 8, 2015
This is definitely worth the listen. Has some great practical tips on how to actively improve your thinking. From what S.M.A.R.T. goals are and how to set them, to actively working on the weak points we all have in our personalities. I can appreciate the real world examples. I would have like to hear more about using CBT around limiting beliefs outside of a clinical setting because I think there's potential for application in varying aspects of life. I find with listening to books, I need to put it on 2x speed to stay actively engaged. All in all, this was a great introduction to CBT and it's spurred me to pick up more books on it.
44 people found this helpful
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