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Since publishing the original Coddling article with @jonhaidt in 2015, one of the most meaningful experience I’ve had is being asked what advice I would give to others who struggle with depression. Here are my top recommendations: 1/14
First, if you’re suicidal, take any moment of clarity you have to immediately call a hotline, tell a friend, or get yourself admitted (I called 911). 2/14 https://afsp.org/find-support/resources/
If you have a friend who says they’re suicidal, take it extraordinarily seriously. Best case, you find out that your friend is not that bad off. Worst case is genuine tragedy. 3/14
Second, if your depression is more moderate, the top book I recommend is @PreFrontalBlog’s The Upward Spiral. Better yet, buy the audiobook & listen to it while walking. It’s the best book I’ve found to read when you’re feeling depressed. 4/14 https://amzn.to/2DZ4a8e
Third, I, of course, strongly recommend CBT. While CBT techniques can be good at calming you down in the short term, they’re even more effective if you practice them over a long period of time. 5/14
Eventually, the responses to your cognitive distortions become natural habits. @DavidDBurnsMD’s Feeling Good is the classic intro book to CBT: 6/14
https://amzn.to/2RglPd9
https://amzn.to/2RglPd9
Note: CBT expert @RobertLeahyPhD was extraordinarily helpful with our book. You can find out more about his practice, work, and books here: 7/14
https://www.cognitivetherapynyc.com/dr-leahy.aspx
https://www.cognitivetherapynyc.com/dr-leahy.aspx
Many people would really benefit from working with a trained CBT therapist. You would be amazed at how good your brain can be at constructing a narrative in which you’re broken and hopeless. A smart therapist can really help untangle that. http://www.findcbt.org/xFAT/index.cfm 8/14
If you’re not currently battling depression and want to know more about strategies for happiness, I recommend @jonhaidt’s book The Happiness Hypothesis. It’s a great and serious look at what actually works: 9/14 https://amzn.to/2S82Eqx
For the big picture of lifetime happiness, I strongly recommend my friend @jon_rauch’s book The Happiness Curve. 10/14
https://amzn.to/2Dx9rBV
https://amzn.to/2Dx9rBV
The bad news? People’s happiness tends to bottom out in the US sometime in their 40s. The GREAT news? The reported happiness of older people is much higher than you might expect. 11/14
This is an especially helpful tonic for those of us who were misled that you’re supposed to be happiest when you’re a teenager or twenty-something. Finding out that people can be remarkably happy later in life is a hopeful message that certainly improved my outlook. 12/14
Lastly, for those without serious anxiety or depression, I suggest looking into CBT anyway. Why? Because IMHO it’s quite profound that a strategy for learning to argue fairly and rationally with yourself can dramatically improve anxiety and depression. 13/14
Knowing about cognitive distortions provides you with excellent rules for not only arguing fairly with yourself, but also arguing fairly with others. (It turns out Eastern/Western philosophers were on to something. We discuss this in our book :-) ) 14/14 https://amzn.to/2WiOJNO
If it wasn't obvious this thread is primarily a list of BOOKS that I've found can help with depression & anxiety. Here is advice from a psychiatrist: http://bit.ly/2B8mXdT I've been helped by medication myself (tho I react badly to SSRIs) & yes, by all means TALK TO YOUR DOC!
