A workbook designed to help you work through your anxiety and stress in order to recognize your triggers before they become too big to manage. Often a panic attack continues and gets worse because we fail to manage the feelings and our breathing too late. We don’t see the signs early enough to stop ourselves from what feels like impending doom but with some help, we can see these triggers and control them to our advantage and actually take back our independence. 

There’s far too many of us suffering from anxiety and depression and I could list off a ton of reasons that you all already know. These issues don’t just go away overnight so we need to figure out how to move through the discomfort.

This is the first CBT workbook I have read and worked on and I have to say it was absolutely interesting! I'm glad I picked it up because it ended up being a very light read without too many complicated terms. It presents easily understandable concepts that may or may not help out with your daily life. There is a great division into categories and it truly gives you something to think about. As a first-timer, I will definitely pick another look into more books like this! If you've never done this before, I totally recommend it! It's worth your time.

Don’t Believe Everything You Feel by Robert L. Leahy uses an emotional schema approach to help you manage anxiety and depression. Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) tools are ussd as part of this approach. It’s set up as a workbook, with a substantial amount of text interspersed with worksheets. Some of the worksheets are fairly structured, but mostly there are thought-provoking questions with space provided to answer them.

The author breaks emotions down into five part: sensations, beliefs, goals, behaviours, and interpersonal tendencies. He explains the difference between thoughts and emotions, and talks about identifying triggers for emotions.

The book treats all emotions as valid, and challenges the feeling rules that we learn in childhood and beyond. Once an emotion arises, we respond to it based on emotional schemas. The beliefs and strategies that make up these schemas are the main target of the book.

While emotions themselves aren’t problematic, the author explains that our responses to them may not be effective. These problematic responses include invalidation, guilt, and fear of loss of control. There’s a chapter devoted to feeling guilty about emotions, which I think is a common problem for people with mental illness.

Some of the principals of the emotional schema approach you many be familiar with, and some might be feel uncomfortable. Leahy explains that everyone experiences unpleasant emotions and disappointment, and difficult emotions have an important function in warning us about our needs. A chapter was devoted to ambivalence and mixed feelings, which the book frames as normal.

There was a section on becoming a victim that I wasn’t all that keen. To prevent being a victim, the author suggests asserting yourself and your rights, protesting, and seeking an apology or restitution. Whole those aren’t bad things, to me, that seems like a rather privileged stance.

While some of the worksheets had examples that were already filled out, the question and answer bits didn’t. I think providing some examples could have made it easier to reflect on the questions more effectively and at a deeper level.

This wasn’t the first CBT workbook I’ve read, nor will it be the last, and what I look for is something to make a book stand out. While the content of this book was good, I didn’t feel as engaged as I have with other similar books. There isn’t a strong sense of the author’s self being present in the book. That’s not necessarily a bad choice, but it misses out on a potential source of uniqueness. That doesn’t leave a lot of room to stand out from the pack.



I received a reviewer copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley.

It's empowering to know we can be in control of our feelings much more than we think. I find this topic fascinating. Well-organized, and easy to follow. I haven't read much on this topic previously but feelings are such a big part of our lives and understanding how are thoughts play into our true feelings is worth learning about.

I have read a few books about anxiety and depression and found them very helpful and enjoyable. I found this to be rather simplistic and not a good fit for me.

I struggle with anxiety, pretty severe and depression, though the struggle waxes and wanes as do most things, CBT has been a friend through it all. I read a lot of self-help books on the topic and every once in a while one strikes me as particularly insightful and helpful. This is one of those books. I think what struck me most is the way it felt like a conversation with the author as if I were sitting in the office talking to them. Everything was clear and easy to understand. The distinction between thoughts and emotions was wonderful and useful. I also enjoyed the idea that all emotions are part of life and the emphasis that we should learn to live with them rathe than feel bad for having them was refreshing. Many with anxiety, myself included, feel guilt over some emotions. There are wonderful sections at the end of parts to help work through what was presented in a way that will help the ideas stick.

It's a useful resource i would recommend for those who struggle with emotions.

This book is a super helpful resource for learning how to cope with feelings. I found it extremely beneficial and very accessible for any layperson or mental health professional.

I read an e-galley ARC version on my kindle, but the book provided many different links to worksheets. I plan on printing the worksheets and going back through the book a second time to review all of the highlighted portions.

If you are interested in learning more about emotions and especially dealing with difficult emotions, I highly recommend this book.

This is an excellent primer on cognitive behavioral therapy and emotional schema therapy, best suited for someone who has not done this type of work before but also a solid reminder for those who have been introduced to it. The activities and exercises are structured to help bring deeper awareness to the concepts. I really like the continual emphasis on how your feelings are fine, but if how you feel about your feelings are causing problems, that's what needs to be worked on.

A nice workbook combining cognitive behavior and emotional schema therapies to tackle cognitive biases seen among anxiety and depression.

Really good stuff. Practical. Readers will likely learn some new ideas as well as be reminded of things they already knew. I'm sure this will be helpful for lots of people.

Thanks very much for the ARC for review!!

“We are all human and, as such, we need to learn to live with the full range of emotions that have evolved to warn us, protect us, and connect us” - Robert L. Leahy

This title caught my eye because I struggle with anxiety and am always looking for resources to help with it. I’ve read a few books on anxiety and have been disappointed with most, but this book was different. Leahy is straightforward, but writes with empathy and understanding. In this book he shares how anxiety and depression affect the brain, the difference between thoughts and feelings, tips on healthy coping strategies, and constant reminders that discomfort is temporary and that all humans struggle. Leahy also includes helpful case studies and reflection prompts to make his points more meaningful to the reader. This is a book I found helpful and would recommend to anyone who struggles with mental health or has a loved one that they would like to learn how to better support. Thank you @netgalley @newharbinger for this ARC. Don’t Believe Everything You Feel will be released July 1, 2020.

This book was a great reminder on the differences between emotions and reality. Super helpful for those looking to take a step back from strong emotions and look at them in a more helpful and healthy way.

I really enjoyed this book. I have been interested in psychology for years now; at some point I even considered studying the subject in university! While that didn't happen, my interest in the field was not lost. Leahy's book, however, is the first book I've ever read on the topic - for all my love for the field, I've never actually read a book on psychology before. I think I always found them a bit intimidating, so I kept putting them off.

Don't Believe Everything You Feel , however, is a rather "easy" book. It's not meant for an audience trained in psychology, so the language used is rather simple, despite the complicated, often difficult topics. I really enjoyed the 'lists' and exercises that existed within the book, as I believe they allow the book's readers to keep revisiting, and getting more out of it each time.

My favourite part of the book was the chapter on ambivalence and mixed emotions. I have always been a black-and-white, all-or-nothing person, so I often find myself struggling with accepting mixed feelings. For me, that was the most useful chapter of all. Overall, a quick, and informative read on a very interesting topic, with a very enlightening approach of its subject.

I think the one part of this book that I really liked was the way the different case studies come in to demonstrate what each chapter is trying to say. Reading about an individual who has experienced these same issues and overcome them was inspiring, and I think this would have to be the highlight of the book.

I also liked the idea of using tasks and exercises for the reader to try, though. I'm sure these would be very helpful for a lot of people, although I did not try many of them myself.

Unfortunately, I I just didn't feel like the book said anything new, and a lot of the information felt unoriginal. I always found that it was quite repetitive, and didn't have enough of a voice to really keep my attention for too long. I just found the chapters a little repetitive, and they all seemed to merge into one. I can take away a few different coping strategies away from the book, but overall, I don't think it was for me.

A great straight forward read that looks to help you understand that emotions are temporary and how to process what you are feeling. A good self help book.

This is a great companion for cognitive behavioral therapy. As someone who has used some of the techniques in this book, I'd seriously recommend it. I enjoy how it is less focused on providing page after page of theory and is more focused on providing exercises to help you quickly identify the emotion and deal with it. If reading, I do recommend using it alongside therapy.

I was drawn to the title of this book "Don't believe everything to feel," sounds easy enough, right? Well, why is it that we react and after regret what we did calling it a mistake in either a fit of anger or envy? I love CBT more-so because whilst studying Psychology it was the only mode that seemed to require that you put in the work and would delve into thoughts and how those affect our emotions and then actions.
What's great about this book is how relevant it is in the author drawing insights and experiences or examples from social media and for most young people this is where their anxiety stems from.
Thank you Netgalley for the eARC.

You know a book is impacting you when you find yourself exclaiming 'Yes' and 'ha!' R. Leahy's book is full of sharp pieces of wisdom with veins of gold. It reads like a well written collection of the best teachings on emotion. Sure to prod beginners to self awareness and wise old heads to remembrance.

There are two reasons I read at least one cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) book each year. 

The first is because cognitive behavioral therapy helped me dig myself out of a deep, long-lasting depression in my young adulthood. Later, it helped me feel less anxiety. But just like if I stop exercising I become out of shape, if I do not practice the techniques -- or at least refresh them every once in a while -- I am prone to fall into depression and/or anxiety once again. For me, these books are like a preventative checkup with a doctor.

The second is because I am a teacher of teenagers who often do not know what to do with their emotions. I am not their therapist, but how I respond to their outbursts, tears, sarcasm, and other often looked down upon expressions of emotions can have an incredible effect on their well being. I want to make sure that effect is positive, and cognitive behavioral therapy books give me appropriate, respectful, and helpful ways to respond. In this case, I use the books as a continuing  form of professional development.

Suffice it to say that in the past decade or more since I was first a patient with a psychologist who used these techniques, I have read a large number of these books and feel qualified to review and rank them.

A cornerstone of CBT is recognizing thoughts as thoughts and emotions as emotions and not conflating the two. In the first chapter, Leahy lays this distinction out very well and uses the tried and true technique of putting the reader in the position of comforting a friend experiencing unpleasant emotions (a useful section for those of us who work in caring professions) and then revealing that we should be just such good friends to ourselves. I know this technique backwards and forwards, yet every time I actually do the process of it, I find I am still much kinder to other people and understanding of their emotions than I am to myself. It’s a lovely exercise that should be repeated often, and it is as clear and effective in this book as I have ever seen it elsewhere. 

Another useful feature is the writer’s ability to make all emotions seem normal. I remember in the depths of my worst depressive episode reading William Styron’s Darkness Visible. That is one horrifically depressing book, yet because Styron described feelings of desperation that I thought no one else could understand, I realized I was not unique in my feelings, and that took away some of the shame and isolation of those feelings. Helping people recognize that they are not alone is a major part of any therapy, but not all books that purport to do that do it well. Sometimes examples are jarringly fake sounding or so far from my experience that I end up feeling more different than I did before. That is not the case in this book. The examples given felt honest and were relayed in a way that was not hokey (as they can be in some books) even when they were not experiences or feelings I shared. I found myself connecting with anecdotes and understanding examples. 

As many of the books I have read were published before social media became such an ubiquitous part of our lives, I especially appreciate that the feelings of inadequacy people can get from only seeing others’ curated versions of their lives (not to mention all the fake perfection in the advertisements) is explored. This is something lacking in a number of other CBT books, not because they were bad books but because they were published so long ago. The techniques are the same, but the stimuli have changed. 

The writing style is straightforward and effective. The author brings himself into the book frequently, which I think is important when a book is potentially taking the place of actually meeting with a psychologist. We have to trust the person giving us advice. He never makes direct appeals to his long, successful career (though a Google search provides that quickly); he doesn’t have to: his humanity comes across on the page, and what we need more than anything when we are feeling low is someone who understands us. 

There isn’t much negative to write, but I will note that I did not like the replacement of the word “awfulizing” for “catastrophizing”, mostly because “awfulizing” sounds… well, awful. 

Every time I read one of these books, a different reminder sticks with me. The one that stuck with me this time was about worry -- understandable considering I’m reading this book on week five of working from home during a pandemic that doesn’t look like we’ll be able to manage any time soon and the rest of my household is now unemployed.

I can see myself on the verge of entering chronic worry land. There is more to worry about right now than there usually is, but since I have already prepared my finances as much as possible, made masks, and committed to abiding by the stay at home/social distancing orders, my worry will no longer prod me to positive action, so continuing to worry will not serve me well. I can stay informed and not add to my worry. If/when I or my loved ones get sick, my ability to control my worry may go out the window, but right now we are safe. I have a right to live in -- and even enjoy -- this moment in which my loved ones and I are safe; allowing myself that does not change what will happen (and worrying certainly will not somehow magically protect us from a virus). I needed that reminder today. Thank you, Dr. Leahy. 

**
Note: I received an advanced reading copy of this book through Netgalley at my request in exchange for an honest review. The book is scheduled to be released July 1, 2020, and I plan to purchase a copy for my classroom.

Understand that all emotions are temporary. That statement made by the author was important. I also deal with difficult emotions and I agree with him. So then I wanted to know how to deal with emotions that are running my life. What I learned was that I needed to pay attention to the emotions and learn to put things into proper perspective but also not ignore them. I also worry a lot. I believed I had reason to do so but after reading and working on the concepts in the book I see that my worries can be more helpful when looked at in a different light
This book is meant to be used and worked with. Taking time to log my worries and emotions gives me a chance to look at what I am doing that is making my life more difficult. Excellent resource for realistic living/