Mind Over Mood
The Mind Over Mood Initiative addresses maternal mental health within early childhood Home Visitation in multiple ways. One key component is the development of partnerships with independent practice therapists statewide. Mind over Mood is building a community of specialized perinatal mental health and attachment psychotherapists to attend to the unmet clinical needs of marginalized mothers who may be affected by trauma, socioeconomic stress, racial oppression and low social support. Since 2015, we have cultivated collaborations with over 130 private practice and small group practices across the state.
Mind Over Mood
An oyster creates a pearl out of a grain of sand. The grain of sand irritates the oyster. In response, the oyster creates a smooth, protective coating that covers the sand and provides relief. This protective coating is a beautiful pearl. For an oyster, an irritant becomes the seed for something new and beautiful. Similarly, Mind Over Mood will help you develop something new: beneficial skills to lead you out of your current discomfort. The skills you learn by using this book will help you feel better and will continue to have value in your life long after your original problems are gone.
Mind Over Mood teaches you strategies, methods, and skills that have been shown to be helpful with mood problems such as depression, anxiety, anger, panic, jealousy, guilt, and shame. The skills taught in this book can also help you solve relationship problems, handle stress better, improve your self-esteem, become less fearful, and grow more confident. These strategies also can help you if you are struggling with alcohol or drug use. Mind Over Mood is designed to teach you skills in a step-by-step fashion, so you can rapidly make the changes that are important to you.
The ideas in this book come from cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), one of today's most effective forms of psychotherapy. "Cognitive" refers to what we think and how we think. Cognitive-behavioral therapists emphasize understanding the thoughts, beliefs, and behaviors connected to our moods, physical experiences, and events in our lives. A central idea in CBT is that our thoughts about an event or experience powerfully affects our emotional, behavioral, and physical responses to it.
Mind Over Mood teaches you to identify and understand the connections among your thoughts, moods, behaviors, and physical reactions in everyday situations like this one, as well as during major events in your life. You will learn to think about yourself and situations in more helpful ways, and to change the thinking patterns and behaviors that keep you stuck in distressing moods and relationships. You will discover how to make changes in your life when your thoughts alert you to problems that need to be solved. In the end, these changes should help you feel happier, calmer, and more confident. In addition, the skills you learn using Mind Over Mood help you create and enjoy more positive relationships.
Similarly, you will be able to notice and measure the progress you make in using Mind Over Mood. In the early weeks, you will learn individual skills. Over time, you will learn to combine these skills in ways that improve your moods and your life. One way to measure your progress is to measure your moods at regular intervals as you develop and practice Mind Over Mood skills. Chapter 4 helps you do this and shows you how to graph your scores so you can see your progress over time.
Mind Over Mood can be customized so that you can read chapters in an order that is likely to be most helpful for you. For example, if you have chosen this book to work on particular moods, at the end of Chapter 4 there is a recommendation that you read the chapters about moods (13, 14, and/or 15) that pertain to you. You can skip any mood chapters that don't apply. After you read those chapters, you can follow the chapter sequence recommended for each particular mood or moods. Alternatively, you may choose to read the book straight through and do the exercises beginning with Chapter 2 and ending with Chapter 16.
Yes. The same Mind Over Mood skills that help manage moods can also help you with stress; alcohol and drug use; eating issues such as bingeing, purging, or overeating; relationship struggles; low self-esteem; and other issues. It also can be used to develop positive moods, such as happiness and a sense of meaning and purpose in your life.
Throughout the book, there are exercises designed to help you learn and apply the important skills introduced in that chapter. The worksheets that accompany these exercises are meant to be practiced over time. Additional copies of many of the exercise worksheets can be found in the Appendix at the end of the book (and all of them are available to download for your personal use at www.guilford.com/MOM2-materials ), so that you can copy and use them whenever you think they might help.
The therapist asked to talk with Ben on the phone, and Ben reluctantly came on the line. He told the therapist not to take it personally, but he didn't think much of "head doctors" and didn't want to see the therapist because he wasn't crazy, just old. "You wouldn't be happy either if you were 78 and ached all over!" He said he would go to one appointment just to satisfy Sylvie, but he was sure it wouldn't help.
As the therapist gently questioned Ben over the next 30 minutes, his story slowly unfolded. With each question, Ben sighed deeply and then responded flatly. Ben had been a truck driver for 35 years, making local deliveries for the last 14 of those years. After his retirement, he met regularly with three retired friends to talk, eat a meal, or watch sports. Ben also liked fixing things, working on house projects, and repairing bicycles for his eight young grandchildren and their friends. He regularly saw his three children and the grandchildren, and he felt proud to have a good relationship with each of them.
Eighteen months earlier, Sylvie had been diagnosed with breast cancer. Her cancer had been detected early, and she had recovered well after surgery and radiation treatment, with no further signs of cancer. Ben became teary as he talked about her illness: "I thought I'd lose her, and I didn't know what I'd do." As he said this, Sylvie jumped in quickly, patting Ben on the arm: "But I'm OK, dear. Everything turned out OK." Ben swallowed hard and nodded his head.
After hearing Ben's story and reviewing his physician's report that there was no physical cause for the way Ben was feeling, it was clear to the therapist that Ben was depressed. He was experiencing physical symptoms (insomnia, appetite loss, fatigue), behavior changes (stopping his usual activities, avoiding friends), mood changes (sadness, irritability, guilt), and a thinking style (negative, self-critical, and pessimistic) consistent with depression. As is often the case with depression, Ben had experienced a number of losses and stresses in the preceding two years (Sylvie's cancer, Louie's death, and the sense that his children and grandchildren didn't need him any more).
Notice that the five areas of Figure 2.1 are interconnected. The connecting arrows show that each different part of our lives influences all the others. For example, changes in our behavior influence how we think and how we feel (both physically and emotionally). Our behavior can also change our environment and life events. Likewise, changes in our thinking affect our behavior, moods, and physical reactions, and can lead to changes in our environment. Understanding how these five parts of our lives interact can help us understand our problems.
Ben could see how each of these five parts of his experience influenced the other four, pulling him deeper into his sad mood. For example, as a result of thinking, "All my friends will die soon because we're getting old" (thought), Ben stopped calling them on the phone (behavior). As Ben became more isolated from his friends, he began to feel lonely and sad (mood), and his inactivity contributed to his sleep problems and tiredness (physical reactions). Since he no longer called his friends or did things with them, many of them stopped calling him (environment). Over time, these interacting forces dragged Ben into a downward spiral of depression.
"Only rarely does a book come along that can truly change your life. Mind Over Mood is such a book. Dennis Greenberger and Christine A. Padesky have distilled the wisdom and science of psychotherapy and written an easily understandable manual for change."—from the Foreword by Aaron T. Beck, MD, developer of cognitive therapy "Based on over 40 years of front-line research, this renowned book provides clinically proven strategies to help you manage your mind and the emotions that can so easily destroy your quality of life. Drs. Greenberger and Padesky show how your thoughts affect your feelings and teach step-by-step skills so you can free yourself from painful moods. The first edition of this book was a classic—the second edition is even better, and will be a trusted guide for even more people across the globe."—Mark Williams, DPhil, coauthor of The Mindful Way Workbook "Over a million people have used Mind Over Mood to alleviate—and in many cases eliminate—the suffering caused by depression and other psychological problems. Drs. Greenberger and Padesky are brilliant therapists whose thoroughly updated second edition is informed by the latest research and therapeutic innovations. Science has demonstrated incontrovertibly that changing the way we think about emotional situations is among the most powerful ways to change emotions themselves. Everyone struggling with challenging moods or emotions should read this book."—David H. Barlow, PhD, ABPP, coauthor of 10 Steps to Mastering Stress "True to its title, this book really can help you transform your thinking so you can make lasting changes."—Judith S. Beck, PhD, President, Beck Institute for Cognitive Behavior Therapy 041b061a72