Peaceful Mind: Using Mindfulness and Cognitive Psychology to Overcome Depression

John McQuiad and Paula Carmona

ISBN 1-57224-366-X

Amazon link

From the introduction:

“The motivation to write this book certainly comes from the desire to help the many people we have seen suffering from depression. But this is not a book getting rid of your depression. Our more earnest hope is to give you tools to help transform your life. Transformation doesn’t happen by merely getting rid of a problem. Transformation occurs when you have the capacity to greet problems in your life with an open awareness and a keen interest. Learning how to be open with life and face painful problems is at the heart of our interest in exploring

how mindfulness and cognitive behavioral therapy can be tools of transformation. A life shaken by depression is also a life open to the possibility of deep transformation. We hope that this book provides a useful foundation and skillful means to help you move beyond a life where depression is your shadow.”

The chapter headings are:

1) From depression to hope

2) The combo plate

3) CBT and mindfulness meditation: first steps

4) Core belief framework

5) Understanding and changing depressed thinking

6) Activities and mood

7) People and your mood

People skills

9) Depression and exercise

10)Acceptance is not defeat

11)Stages of change

The stages of change from chapter 11 are:

Precontemplation—is what generally is called “denial”. In this stage we have trouble acknowledging a problem. The denial is actually used as a defense to not face reality.

Contemplation—occurs as we move into an emotional area of becoming willing to own a problem or situation.

Preparation—is the emotional space where we balance staying where we are or moving in a new direction.

Action—is the stage that we begin implementing changes in our lives. The changes adopted here should be small and slow so that we may learn how to recognize what helps bring on the problem.

Maintenance—is achieved according to one (James Prochaska) of the authors (James Prochaska, John Norcross, and Carlo DiClemente) of how we change as “a sustained long-term effort and a revised lifestyle”.

Termination—does not mean that depression leaves forever. Instead it means that each sufferer has learned his/her own relapse prevention and used the maintenance tools introduced here to continue life without deep depression. With practice, the sufferer becomes less and less willing to stay in denial.

I don’t know if I was born for Squidoo or Squidoo was made for me. I do know that I have found my favorite vehicle–a place to practice target marketing. I believe that everyone is in sales. By that I mean we are each trying to get our personal agenda met every day. So how do you make sales easy? Find your target market and people buy from you because you are providing them a service to buy what they want. I began my main blog, kathyberman.com (Changemaker: Reinventing Yourself), in November, 2004. After writing daily for 10-12 hours for over 2 years, I came to believe that the blog had too much information. I had decided during the first few months of blogging that I didn’t have the time to write about all I’ve learned in thirty years of recovery and answer comments.

Knowing that I would be in for a long, lonely road without comments didn’t deter me from the decision to exclude comments. I have always posted my email address and posted several times about new directions the blog was entering. Of course, my choice brought me no traffic. Although I have been consistently and continually online for over two years, I have no traffic. I read a lot of blogs that have high readership audiences and have never regretted my choice.

My Squidoo Published Lenses:

Squidoo Lens Page

http://www.squidoo.com/cmlens/

About Change

Do You Need a Life Change?

http://www.squidoo.com/changelife/

You Can Help Change the World

http://www.squidoo.com/changeworld/

How You Can Change Your Stress Level

http://www.squidoo.com/changestress/

About Changemaker

Use Changemaker to Start Your Own Groups

http://www.squidoo.com/changemaker/

Use Changemaker Test to Help Others

http://www.squidoo.com/changemakertest/

Changemaker Favorite Prayers

http://www.squidoo.com/cmprayer/

Helping Others With Changemaker Headquarters

http://www.squidoo.com/groups/changemaker

About Body, Mind and Soul

Mind, Body and Soul: Physical Healing

http://www.squidoo.com/physicalhealing/

Mind, Body and Soul: Emotional Healing

http://www.squidoo.com/emotionalfitness/

Mind, Body and Soul: Mental Healing

http://www.squidoo.com/mentalhealing/

About Diet

Are You Running Out of Energy?

http://www.squidoo.com/highenergydiet/

About Motivation

Goals are Dreams With a Deadline

http://www.squidoo.com/yourtrueself/

About Recovery

ACOA, Codependency and My Inner Child

http://www.squidoo.com/myinnerchild/

Recovery is a Return to Sanity

http://www.squidoo.com/twelvesteps/

About Spirituality

Coming Home to God

http://www.squidoo.com/spiritualpractices/

Changemaker Favorite Prayers

http://www.squidoo.com/cmprayer

About Squidoo

Why I Needed Squidoo

http://www.squidoo.com/lovesquidoo/

My Hobbies

My Favorite Photo Artists

http://www.squidoo.com/favphotoartists/

About the Author

A Sampler of My Life

http://www.squidoo.com/kathy/

All the talents you are good at on your present job will be talents that you’ll use on new jobs/careers. List the 10 aspects you feel comfortable with on a job. Don’t be afraid to change or modify your list.

Put it in a conspicuous place and check it over every day.
A career shift is easy after you understand the qualities you must have for any job. What are your interests and desires?

Career Questions:

Where do you see yourself five years from now?

Where do you see yourself ten years from now?

Is there something in your life that you want and don’t have?

What is stopping your moving forward?

What do you need to change today to make your career move forward?

Another author has suggested these questions:

1. What one subject can you enjoy talking about for many hours?
2. Do any of your hobbies involve working a lot with other people?
3. What specific concerns preoccupy your mind, breaking into whatever else you’re thinking about?
4. What do you most enjoy doing for others?
5. Let’s pretend you’ve reached the end of your life, and you’re in heaven looking back on it. What’s the one thing you want to be most happy about having done or having been?
6. Who ‘out there’ in the world have you come to care about the most? Who do you most want to help, enable, or reach? (You define the categories, whatever way you want. Go with your first instincts.)
7. Now, write down at least five of your life experiences that most gave you a sense of fulfillment and/or growth. (Don’t think about them until later — just write them down for now.) If more experiences come to mind, just keep listing them until you exhaust yourself. You’ll sort them out later.