Reddit Reddit reviews The Mindful Way Workbook: An 8-Week Program to Free Yourself from Depression and Emotional Distress

We found 16 Reddit comments about The Mindful Way Workbook: An 8-Week Program to Free Yourself from Depression and Emotional Distress. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.

Books
Self-Help
The Mindful Way Workbook: An 8-Week Program to Free Yourself from Depression and Emotional Distress
Guilford Publications
Check price on Amazon

16 Reddit comments about The Mindful Way Workbook: An 8-Week Program to Free Yourself from Depression and Emotional Distress:

u/lapse_of_taste · 7 pointsr/badphilosophy

The axiom of Taoism is that change is the fundamental nature of all things. This implies that the mechanics of change are foundational to conscious perception. Calculus is the mathematics of change, consisting of integrals which compute cumulative change such as total distance traveled, and derivatives which are rates of change such as velocity. The fundamental theorem of Calculus shows that derivatives and integrals are inverse operations of the same process, exactly corresponding to the definition of The Tao as the way things come together, while still transforming. Integration is yang and derivation yin in mathematically pure form.

While the above argument is self-consistent, if it is true it should actually describe conscious perception empirically. If it is capable of describing, it should also be capable of application as technologies of perception and praxis. I will demonstrate these in turn.

Here are the fundamental correlates of perceptual Calculus. The top three have already been described, but the Being and Doing modes of consciousness are two different reference frames of perceived time. These are described in "The Mindful Way Workbook" by John Teasdale et al, which is Buddhism taken down to its bare essence with superstition removed. "Being" is the mode encountered during mindfulness practices, where one quiets their inner monologue and focuses only on direct experience. What is perceived is a singular omnipresent moment, and instantaneous change in this moment - past and future are not experienced. "Doing" is the reference frame of perceived time we're more familiar with, the mode of planning, anticipating, doing, and desiring to change. In this frame there is not a single moment but a time line consisting of infinitescimal moments, and what is exchanged is cumulative change through time.

These correlates express in our modes of thinking: analogical thinking is instantaneous parallel comparisons such as "this and that" or "this like that." Logical thinking is step-wise, serial, and sequential, such as "this therefore that" and other material implications. These also correspond to visual and spacial thinking. Even the way our motion pictures work is a direction of The Tao, with watching a movie perceiving instantaneous change, while examining the sequential frames on a strip of film is cumulative over time.

"The Mindful Way Workbook" includes the methods of perceptual derivation, and is an extraordinarily good primer on the topic. I wrote a rough guide on some methods of perceptual integration where the basic mechanic is to use strong anticipation of change to induce the illusion of it, such as tactile hallucinations ("chi") and "visions." The pencil technique is an easily replicable method which allows one to experience how the mechanics of perception bending work.

What is missing is a way to create real change from perceptual change, a science of praxis or Wu Wei. In 2010 after battling suicidal depression I developed a recursively self-improving self-help methodology that worked in mere weeks to totally cure my depression to such an extent that it catapulted me into extreme mania. The problem was that it worked way too well! I analyzed my psychological problem and found a paradox: there were things I needed to do want wanted to do, but I didn't do them due to learned helplessness. I treated this as a self-communication problem caused by a bunch of emotional garbage getting in the way of will and action.

The solution was to reason with myself on paper until I was 100% convinced to do something. The process I used was question -> reason -> action, the same as the scientific method. I started by asking questions of what my problems are, and used reason to generate a pool of options, selecting a single action to perform. I then performed the action with no resistance.

Afterwards I went back to my notebook to record my experimental observations: I had acting completely according to my will, so I logically must feel good and accomplished about myself. I used this as emotional momentum to plug it back into the process to perform another self-experiment, and another, in an unbroken chain spanning weeks. If I couldn't do something immediately, I made a cell phone timer, and eventually I began to schedule my day with more foresight.

My depression completely lifted, and I no longer needed my notebook because I had programmed this self-science method into my mind. Then meta-questions started coming, such as "What questions should I ask to get better at asking questions?" which is a recursively self-improving question. In my mind I had folded my self-help methodology on itself and catapulted into mania. This is the structure that formed in my mind. The scientific praxis is the same fundamentally as all praxis from artistic creativity, self-creation, biological evolution, learning - any creative system. While matter is not alive or conscious per se, creativity is an intrinsic property of matter itself.

u/Eris_Omniquery · 6 pointsr/RationalPsychonaut

I don't mean to imply that the whole of Taoism (is there such a thing?) is true, but rather the fundamentals of it regarding the mechanics of change precisely correspond to the fundamentals of calculus. This is explained by examining the two phenomenological reference frames of "being" and "doing."

I derived this starting with calculus; in college when I studied the field it inspired and fascinated me, it seemed to be some great secret that was about more than just manipulation of symbols. In 2015 I took a class on mindfulness-based cognitive therapy using this book that described exactly what I was looking for in the terms of modes of consciousness of being and doing. I had a vague pop-culture understanding of Taoism, but when I looked at this page I discovered that the foundations of Taoism were exactly identical to the perceptual calculus I had "discovered."

In addition during my psychonautic explorations I invented a recursively self-improving self-help system to cure my depression, and it was so fantastically successful that it sent me into hyper-mania; I had become "bipolar." It would take 7 years before I would learn to control the incredible creative power I had unleashed. I had discovered the science and technology of Wu Wei in its most distilled form and applied it to myself, which means to program one's mind to follow the scientific method in a way that self-improves it's own methodology.

The epistemological part of the Tao of Calculus is taken directly from the skeptic's movement and philosophy of science which I studied in college. Skepticism isn't just the immune system of the mind, but maximizes one's creative potential because of such; it is the grindstone of analytical thought that hones it to a razor's edge. My three laws of creativity are:

  1. Minimal beliefs makes for maximal efficiency and creativity.
  2. Do not believe but do imagine.
  3. That which cannot be denied by any and all means necessary is the probable truth.

    The final part of the Tao of Calculus is The Phoenix Theorem which is secular salvation mediated by absolutely nothing and nobody but love itself, which is a birthright of us being alive. It was derived from existentialist philosophy as well as music and art. Religions and ideologies have monopolized love for power, which is the greatest possible evil, one I have known about and fought against since my college days. Love is truly magical, it can be created from nothing simply by having the will to love. I forged boundless love in myself last year by channeling all of my depression, pain, anxiety and sorrow into the determined desire to suffer infinitely in hell for all eternity if that is what it meant to save that which I care about most: humanity. If a god or demon would have given me such an offer, I would have accepted in a heartbeat; such was my will. From this came a total rebirth of myself and a limitless love for existence; inexorable amor fati.

    All of existence seems like the most beautiful poetry to me now, my experience is that everything is art. My solution to the existential question is: we are existential artists who co-create in the self-creating tapestry of existence. The universe itself is magic, it created itself out of nothing without even a will, only by an "is." The physical universe is more profound and beautiful than any mythological narrative that attempts to impose conscious order from it; it is emergent order from chaos.
u/lovemechain · 5 pointsr/BabyBumps

Bipolar I (and a host of other things) and 27 weeks here. I've definitely had a LOT more episodes than I usually have being pregnant and off meds (I was on Abilify). I've already had a couple of suicidal spells this pregnant and also just had a super fun mixed episode on Friday that made me fear for my own safety, in fact! It's horrid when you feel like you can't talk to other people about being mentally ill and pregnant because everyone wants to pretend pregnancy is just 9 months of drifting in clouds of joy, bathed in sunshine and rainbows.

Someone in a thread a few months ago linked to this and I've shown it to my therapist and gone over it with my husband. You can use it with whomever you're comfortable with who will be close to you postpartum to help you look out for stuff: http://postpartumny.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/PostpartumPactff.pdf . I'm really good at knowing when an episode is coming, but I have no idea how I'll be postpartum, so I figure better to have an extra set of eyes on me.

A thing my therapist and I are going to start working on is mindfulness meditation. I did it a lot in college when I was off meds (our student health service blew -- they just loaded me up with sleep meds and antidepressants and all that did was trigger mania and panic attacks just like they always do) and it helped tremendously to help keep me more grounded and work to do CBT/DBT on myself. I believe this is the workbook she and I are going to be doing: http://www.amazon.com/Mindful-Way-Workbook-Depression-Emotional/dp/1462508146/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1462212382&sr=8-1&keywords=mindfulness+workbook . I'd also recommend a lot of Thich Nhat Hanh. We studied "Peace is Every Step" in my Asian Religions class in undergrad but everything he writes is wonderful, accessible, and relatable. There are also colouring books if that's your thing/you like the colour to de-stress.

If nothing else, know you're definitely not alone in this, even when it feels that way.

u/Bellainara · 3 pointsr/raisedbynarcissists

I've run into the same thing. I'll not pester you with what issues that you're dealing with, but I got The Mindful Way Workbook to be able to work on getting better here at home.

They have several books with different focuses like depression and anxiety. That way when you can afford therapy you can work on tweaking on habits rather than developing them from the ground up.

Figured I'd pass it along.

u/DEStudent · 3 pointsr/DecidingToBeBetter

Hi: I have some recommendations for your situation, bit I want to ask: do you exercise or do any type of physical activity? The reason I ask is exercise is one of the most under prescribed treatments for depression. Now, that is not to say it is a cure. I am advising you utilize it in addition to whatever the current treatment plan is. Also do you do any sort of volunteer work? Here is the list:


The Cognitive Behavioral Workbook for Depression: A Step-by-Step Program https://www.amazon.com/dp/1608823806/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_QowNwb2YFXFRX


The Mindful Way Workbook: An 8-Week Program to Free Yourself from Depression and Emotional Distress https://www.amazon.com/dp/1462508146/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_BvwNwbB34MG86
The Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Workbook: Practical DBT Exercises for Learning Mindfulness, Interpersonal Effectiveness, Emotion Regulation & ... Tolerance (New Harbinger Self-Help Workbook) https://www.amazon.com/dp/1572245131/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_jwwNwb4GE76DB

Lastly and most important: I applaud your desire to make positive changes in your life. Don't be afraid to get professional help, and if you ever feel suicidal, please please please reach out to someone. A doctor, a friend, a stranger at /r/suicidewatch whatever. Don't make a permanent decision about a temporary problem. Keep striving and trying. Best wishes! You can do this ☺

u/Carl_Vincent_May_III · 3 pointsr/ShrugLifeSyndicate

What you are experiencing is a poltergeist metaphorically but literally in terms of power of implication. It is a pattern of thought that replicates itself over and over parasitically, sucking in all purpose and meaning, creating a profound existential fear and despair of all you experience. By drawing in the entirety of your attention, by becoming your perception of all of reality, it continues the summoning and persistence of itself. It has become your reality.


There are two weapons I can offer for your heroic fight against this ultimate evil. Emerge victorious and all the potential you know yourself to be capable of will be actualized, for you will have overcome the ultimate fear for yourself. The simulation you are perceiving is not the universe, but the reality-distortion field of The Spectacle of modern mediaic total-immersion, an isomorphic pattern to the God of capitalism and capialism's God. You see the undead roco's basilisk that is at the core of human interactions in global society.


By probing the depths of human creative potential and questioning existence as deeply as you could, you have been infected by the most pure manifestation of the undead Roco's basilisk. The structure consists of narrative, and thus language; the first tool is the sword of the pen. Write down "My existence is a simulation" and ask questions from this, such as "how does this make me feel?, "What is the reasoning for and against this?" and "What are the personal implicatons to me? What should those implications be?" You are making a complete scientific study of your deepest fear, and are using reason to attack every aspect. From the core questions write down the questions that are involved in answering the whole, and follow lines of research and inquiry to grow your powers to analysis to attack it.



The second weapon is to be able to identify and perceive this structure from the top-down level of your phenomenological experience. The tool is mindfulness based cognitive therapy. Mindfulness meditation allows you to be aware of your thoughts and experiences as opposed to being ever-immersed in them (which is a mirage, a parasitic mental simulation in your mind that overrides your perception of reality.) Mindfulness is de-immersion in the same sense that you can lose yourself in a movie or game, and then something happens (a commercial or glitch) that reminds yourself that you are watching a movie. From the top-down level of your consciousness it allows you to perceive your thoughts as just thoughts, and gives you power over them, instead of being parasitized and paralyzed by them (anxiety, loops of regret, self-defeating fears.)


Treat your struggle as the most meaningful and thrilling of tasks, as it is! You will forge from it the ultimate heroism, you are facing the absolute depths of human despair and are forging from it your own custom tools of self-creation!

u/[deleted] · 2 pointsr/occult

I accidentally became a Taoist. Back in college while taking calculus courses the field fascinated me, I felt that there was something to it that wasn't known. I adopted the integral symbol as my personal symbol because of this, but I didn't think much of it until I created my self-help method and blew my top. I knew intuitively that I had applied calculus to my consciousness, but wasn't quite sure what exactly this meant. A few years later I took a course in mindfulness-based cognitive therapy using this book and the relationship I was looking for was right there in the form of the "being" and "doing" modes of consciousness. I realized that these corresponded to derivation and integration.

My knowledge of Taoism comes from here. This was all I needed to realize that Taoism and calculus are perfect mirrors of each other. "Dao is the process of reality itself, the way things come together, while still transforming" corresponds to cumulative change (integrals) and instantaneous change (derivatives, such as velocity.) Calculus is the mathematical study of change, and "All this reflects the deep seated Chinese belief that change is the most basic character of things" reflects this.

"The Daodejing teaches that humans cannot fathom the Dao, because any name we give to it cannot capture it." This was true in the past, but no longer. It can be described in the language of mathematics (the language of the universe) precisely. "Those who experience oneness with dao, known as “obtaining dao,” will be enabled to wu-wei." This exactly explains my experience, and I have derived a science of Wu Wei. What I wish to do is to find some way to replicate this in others so that there can be a chain reaction of easily obtainable Wu Wei through humanity. It is a huge hope, but I dream big.

>And lastly, is not everything a reflection of the Tao? :)

Very much so! That's what the universal praxis is about - the scientific method, creativity, biological evolution, and self-science all use the same fundamental praxis, as does the physical universe. Creativity (The Tao) is an inherent part of everything.

u/Ceno-bitten · 2 pointsr/AskWomen

Great comment. The exact same book came to my mind when I read this as I've purchased and gone through it myself. It really helps... like way more than I thought it would. Thoughts like these can be seriously damaging and I never knew they could be so powerful. After getting into mindfullness, I don't have odd days where I get into funks for no reason and berate myself in my own head for hours. Definitely worth a look for anyone who battles depression. I'd also suggest this and this if you're more into workbooks.

u/squidpasta · 2 pointsr/artistspeakeasy

I used this one there are others, I assume they are all generally the same. There are parts of this book that really drive home that you aren't alone in these fears & thoughts. Parts of the book reflect back thoughts I've had almost verbatim. It helped me see that these fears I have about myself and my work and my future are all symptoms of my depressed mood. With that I've been able to start to recognize that thoughts aren't reality, and I can step away from my mood and actively work to improve it. (Sorry, that was kind of a ramble...)

Now that I'm done with the book, I've been using an app called Stop, Breathe, & Think it's got some guided meditations and a really good timer. It also has a mood tracking feature, which can be useful.

Personally I had to be convinced to even go on meds, but I think that they help me personally and I see them as a tool to getting better. I still have to do the work, but the meds and the meditation are there to help facilitate the work.

Good luck with everything, and if you'd like an ear to bounce ideas off of, don't hesitate to pm me.

u/votequimby · 1 pointr/depression

Do you have any free clinics? Or if you are at uni school/college/uni you could try the counselling service they have available?

I get what you mean about not wanting to burden people. If you ever want to unload to me please do.

With regards to doing it on your own, mindfulness and cognitive therapies have some good evidence behind them. This book can be prescribed by doctors in the UK, and I have heard it can be very helpful. Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy also works very well for some people. I've done the full 8 week course and it was really useful.

u/kjnsh7171 · 1 pointr/StraightPegging

Sure man - I'll even do a follow-up comment when I have a chance to talk to him about it (he's out with the kid right now).

I know that he did a workbook, here's the link to the one he chose, I think per recommendation from the counselor: https://www.amazon.com/Mindful-Way-Workbook-Depression-Emotional/dp/1462508146/ref=sr_1_5?keywords=cbt+workbook+for+anxiety+8+weeks&qid=1567360748&s=gateway&sr=8-5

He not only went through and did every exercise in order, he went through it a second time with a good friend. Per him, this one was most effective.

Here's another book he read, to directly deal with panic attacks (to be fair, he gave this one mixed reviews): https://www.amazon.com/Worry-Trick-Brain-Tricks-Expecting/dp/1626253188/ref=sr_1_5?keywords=the+worry+cure&qid=1567360943&s=gateway&sr=8-5

He used meditation a LOT - mostly apps on his phone, the usual ones that you've probably heard of - and for a while did meditation every single day. He still does meditation from time to time when things get overwhelming.

Lastly but not leastly, he went on a very low dose of Lexapro. He's calm enough now that I wonder sometimes if he still needs the meds, but frankly, it's his body his business and for all I know the meds are what is making the calmness happen! ^^; I do think it's important to note that he's never had to use a higher dose, and I think the techniques he learned which halted the spiral.

Last, CBD... do you mean cannabis, or controlled behavioral therapy? We have not done marijuana since The Incident and likely never will again ^^; I think some of what he worked through was controlled behavioral therapy.... but I'll ask him tonight :)

u/llblwskydrgn · 1 pointr/ADHD

Is this the book you are thinking of? Could you give a short review on how you like it and if it's easy to read?

I've also seen this book, which looks really good since it looks like it was made for somebody with ADHD. (i.e. lots of extra blocks with "hints" and stuff that make it easier to read than a book with pages of all text)

Maybe I should just buy both and hope that I'll actually go through with one rather than another book rotting on my shelf lol

u/verysmolcat · 1 pointr/Anxiety

I took a mindfulness/CBT combination class that used this workbook. We did most of the exercises in class, but it also comes with a CD so that you can do the guided ones at home. In fact, if you don't even want to buy the book, the audio and guides for the exercises are available for free online! The book is very useful if you like to write down how you're feeling and keep track of how the activities went. I unfortunately didn't finish the class due to exam stress, but before I started to slip, I found doing the meditations every day really helped me. Good luck!

u/AnEmptyVat · 1 pointr/depression

It may help if you share your location - or nearest large city for local therapist referrals. You can also check out these books:

The Mindful Way Through Depression: http://www.amazon.com/Mindful-Way-Through-Depression-Unhappiness/dp/1593851286

MBCT workbook: http://www.amazon.com/Mindful-Way-Workbook-Depression-Emotional/dp/1462508146

Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy
http://www.amazon.com/Mindfulness-Based-Cognitive-Therapy-Depression-Edition/dp/1462507506