Rating: 
Summary: Excellent
Review: I would recommend this book to everyone. My psychologist highly recommends it. Infact she was amused by the fact, that as I was talking to her, I was correcting myself. Be warned, however, that there is another book written by this author that have similar information. Get this big book and not the small one it doesn't have all the info. in it and only about 2 worksheets. Without the worksheets to do, it is just food for thought. I got both, but should have just got this one, only.
Rating:
Summary: Eases the negative thoughts through a new method of thinking
Review: I'm 33 years old and have had a nervousness around people, especially people with genuine negativity about them. It got to the point where negative people could control me through my own guilt. And that caused me to try to cut through to my own happiness, but all I was doing was trying to generate happiness off from my own negative thoughts.This book allowed me to slowly do away with my negative thought path one thought at a time, until I made my way all the way back to the beginning, and realized that my whole problem was that I was very sympathetic at a very young age, and didn't know what to do when the situation around me "wasn't right", which caused me to be afraid, and I never really learned to deal with it effectively. As a result, I allowed myself to be around and be deeply affected by negativity. All this time that childhood fear and anxiety has lurked in me, and this book is helping me to argue that fear away. I very seriously recommend this book to anyone who is trying to solve their own problems by thinking things through and is admittedly just making things worse for themselves. If you are willing to make a change for yourself, trust me, this book does not make you conform to anything but your own most positive potential. That might not be easy for some to believe, but at least give it a try!
Rating: 
Summary: Adds nothing to the original "Feeling Good"
Review: I'm rather disappointed with this book; it adds nothing to what was said in the original Feeling Good (a book I found to be nothing short of revelatory, perhaps the best book on depression self-help I've ever encountered). I'd expected new information and a great deal of useful pencil-and-paper work not contained in the original "FG". There is some of that here, but far too little, and functions neither to add new info to nor to expand meaningfully upon the original book. Also, a quarter to a third of the Handbook consists of a guide to medications. Useful info, indeed, but not the sort of thing I go to a volume on cognitive therapy to read up on--this info is available in so many other places, and as presented here will soon be out-of-date as well.
Rating: 
Summary: Dig Out Of The Hole of Anxiety and Depression
Review: I've used Dr. Burns' work for my own illness since the first "Feeling Good" book was published. Now I use it extensively in helping mentally ill hospitalized people move back into the community. This book is my Bible for successfully dealing with Anxiety and Depression and my consumers also find this book a lifesaver. It can be your Bible, also. Highly recommended and used extensively.
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Summary: Effective and user-friendly tools
Review: In both this book and its predecessor ("Feeling Good"), David Burns has done an excellent job of putting tools into our hands so we can change the feelings and behaviors that we want to change. The tools in this book that I've found most helpful include (i) instruments to measure both anxiety and depression, (ii) a "pleasure-predicting sheet," (iii) a daily mood log to help identify and change unwanted feelings, and (iv) tools to help you overcome procrastination. I agree with another reviewer who said that this book and "Feeling Good" overlap to a great extent, and I recommend this one. You don't need to read "Feeling Good" first, and the worksheets in this "Handbook" are larger and easier to copy and work with. While Dr. Burns uses tools from cognitive behavioral therapy, I strongly recommend that you also obtain "A Guide to Rational Living," by Albert Ellis. Dr. Ellis invented rational (cognitive) behavioral therapy in the mid-1950s and still writes, lectures, and works with clients. While Burns' books are generally better written than Ellis', Dr. Ellis teaches you how to use cognitive techniques more effectively than Dr. Burns does. Instead of just showing you how to recognize faulty thinking that produces unwanted feelings and behaviors and think of alternative thoughts, Dr. Ellis teaches you how to PERSUADE YOURSELF that this faulty thinking is both irrational and counter-productive. In my view, the difference in their approaches is similar to that between an intellectual discussion and a thoroughly persuasive speech. In order to make the desired changes, you need to convincingly and powerfully persuade yourself to change your thinking. Together, this book and "A Guide to Rational Living" give you most all of the tools you need to experience the changes that you want in your feelings and behaviors. The approaches in both books require work. Passively reading them (or anything) will not lead to significant changes. The best news of all is this: There is hope! And you can have the tools at your fingertips.
Rating:
Summary: Wish I could get this in cassette form.
Review: It helped me see some of my folly and to change to a happier me. Also, I saw my mom's problems here; and would like to share this information with her, but she suffers from macular degeneration and therefore avoids reading.
Rating: 
Summary: A moderately effective course in cognitive therapy
Review: Many people don't buy into the whole "root of your problems" mentality that seems to infect the mental health fields nowadays. That's understandable. There certainly is something to be said for a more pragmatic, straightforward approach to the treatment of certain mental states. It is to this group of people that Dr. David Burns addresses his Feeling Good Handbook. The methods in The Feeling Good Handbook are aimed at helping those suffering from depression, anxiety, and other "mild" mental issues to train themselves into healthy mental patterns. Burns has put together a series of writing exercises and journaling that is intended to help readers recognize fallacies in their thought processes. He then spends a great deal of time on each of these fallacies of thought and how to overcome them. Burns is an avid supporter of cognitive therapy. It is obvious that Burns feels the best way to mental health is through learning to master these negative thought processes. Furthermore, he states outright that it is possible to train yourself to be positive and happy by following these exercises. Like most self-help books, Burns' popular book has both positive and negative attributes. Burns has managed to accurately classify the thought traps that those suffering from clinical depression and anxiety fall into. He also presents them in such a way that they are easily memorable and will often return to the reader's mind throughout the course of the day. Burns also includes a surprisingly accurate quiz to gauge the progress of the reader. However, Burn's book depends very heavily on the reader following his instructions with exactness--and some of them are extremely tedious. This is, perhaps, not the best way to help those suffering with depression. Usually depression saps an individual of their desire to do anything at all. Additionally, Burns tends to be a little over-simplistic about his methods and even more over-enthusiastic about their results. On its own, The Feeling Good Handbook is a moderately useful book in the amateur diagnosis and treatment of mild depression. When used in conjunction with a counselor who understands cognitive therapy, this book is an excellent tool in training the reader to think in a new way.
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Summary: This book helped me overcome a clinical depression!
Review: My copy of this book is from 1980. I am certain that the current edition is even more useful! In my case, I combined the cognitive therapy Burns recommends with medication to control my depression, and I would recommend that ANYONE suffering from depression use the same approach. Burns has an excellent treatment of modern antidepressants included in the book. An exceptionally useful item in the book is a self assessment. I used this to periodically rate my level of depression to show if I was getting better or not. This tool alone is worth the price of the book. In any case, if you are suffering from the symptoms of depression, GET HELP! From personal experience, it is extremely difficult to dig your way out of depression alone. Burn's book will augment any form of therapy and medication. By the way, in the early days of my depression, I took the Misnnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) which rates you on a number of items. On the depression scale, I scored 10 out of a possible 10 points! (Which is as bad as it gets!!)
Rating:
Summary: "Feeling Good" is great!
Review: Reading "The Feeling Good Handbook" did me more good than three years of talk therapy; I can't recommend it highly enough. Rather than simply help you dredge through your past for the origins to your problems, Dr. Burns gives you the cognitive tools to allow you to reshape your thinking patterns, and with them, your feelings and actions. If you think you'll never be able to change your depressive or destructive thoughts, read this book, do the exercises, and watch your life change for the better.
Rating:
Summary: "One of the top depression books on the market."
Review: Sometimes another reader puts my thoughts into words better than I could. I agree for the most part with the opinion that "there are four solid books that every therapist should recommend to a person who truly has depression...and this is one of them. The other three books are: Undoing Depression and the two Depression Workbooks."
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