I Want to Change My Life:
How to Overcome Anxiety, Depression and Addiction
WINNER of the Gordon Bell Award for Journalism
About the Book
The book contains a five-point plan for change. It will help you identify what you need to change, and give you the coping skills to achieve your goals.
Discover why stress and negative thinking are important causes of anxiety, depression, and addiction. Do you think that things have to be perfect and anything less than perfect is failure? Do you dwell on the few negatives, and ignore the many positives in your life? Learn how to overcome this kind of thinking so that you can improve your life. You will learn new techniques to reduce your stress.
This book contains a one-month step-by-step program to get you started. If you follow the simple steps laid out in this book, you will change your life and be happier.
Learn:
- A new approach to cognitive therapy
- Stress management and mindful relaxation skills
- The negative thinking that can lead to anxiety, depression and addiction
- How and why cognitive therapy works
- How to write cognitive therapy thought records
- The causes of anxiety, depression and addiction, and how to recognize the symptoms
- Treatment and relapse prevention strategies
- The five rules of recovery from addiction
- The missing step in most self-help plans
- The science behind mind-body relaxation
- How your thinking determines your mood
- Overcome anxiety and panic attacks
- Post acute withdrawal and how to survive it
Reviews
"This book is so clearly and beautifully crafted that just reading it reduces tension. Dr. Melemis has taken a complex subject and distilled it into pure therapeutic magic. Put simply: this book will heal you."
- Hugh Prather, author of Notes to Myself
"This book could prove very beneficial to many people. I especially like the distinction between stress and tension and the clear instructions on how to engage in the various practices of relaxation."
- Thupten Jinpa, official translator to the Dalai Lama
"When treating the problems of life, put this book in the first-aid kit."
- A. James Giannini, MD, FCP, DFAPA, FRSM
Director, Substance Abuse Services, CMHC of Middle Georgia
Formerly: Director, ASC, Yale University
Formerly: Professor, Psychiatry, Ohio State University
Table of Contents
Introduction
1. A Five-Point Plan for Change
--The Problem--
2. Stress and Tension
3. Negative Thinking
--Stress Management and Relaxation--
4. The Key to Relaxation
5. Use Your Body to Relax Your Mind
6. Staying Focused
7. Mindfulness
8. How Relaxation Feels
9. How Mind-Body Relaxation Changes Your Life
10. Helpful Hints
A Summary of How to Relax
--Cognitive Therapy--
11. The Power of Cognitive Therapy
12. Identify Your Negative Thinking
13. Change Your Thinking
14. Combining Cognitive Therapy with Relaxation
15. A One-Month Program for Change
Thought Record Template
--Life--
16. Begin With Your Self-Esteem
17. Improve Your Health
18. Enjoy Better Relationships
19. Develop Tolerance and Compassion
--Anxiety--
20. Overcome Anxiety
21. Panic Attacks
22. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
--Depression--
23. How to Recognize Depression
24. The Causes of Depression
25. The Road to Recovery from Depression
--Addiction--
26. Understand Addiction
27. The Five Rules of Recovery
28. Relapse Prevention
29. Survive Post-Acute Withdrawal
30. Final Thoughts
Resources
About the Author
References