Feeling good --Dr. Burns-- Depression and Cognitive Therapy

This talk was given at a local TEDx event, produced independently of the TED Conferences. Why do we sometimes fall into black holes of depression, anxiety and self-doubt? And can we change the way we feel?

Dr. Burns graduated magna cum laude from Amherst College, received his M.D. from Stanford University School of Medicine and completed his psychiatry residency at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. He has served as Acting Chief of Psychiatry at the Presbyterian / University of Pennsylvania Medical Center (1988) and Visiting Scholar at the Harvard Medical School (1998), and is certified by the National Board of Psychiatry and Neurology.



Dr. Burns is currently Adjunct Clinical Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Stanford University School of Medicine, where he is involved in research and teaching. He has received numerous awards, including the A. E. Bennett Award for his research on brain chemistry, the Distinguished Contribution to Psychology through the Media Award, and the Outstanding Contributions Award from the National Association of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapists. He has been named Teacher of the Year three times from the class of graduating residents at Stanford University School of Medicine, and feels especially proud of this award.



In addition to his academic research, Dr. Burns has written a number of popular books on mood and relationship problems. His best-selling book,Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy, has sold over 4 million copies in the United States, and many more worldwide. Feeling Good is the book most frequently “prescribed” for depressed patients by psychiatrists and psychologists in the United States and Canada. Surveys indicate that American mental health professionals rate Feeling Good as the #1 book on depression, out of a list of 1,000 self-help books.



In 1995, Dr. Burns and his family returned to California from Philadelphia. When he is not crunching statistics for his research, he can be found teaching his famous Tuesday evening psychotherapy training group for Stanford students and community clinicians, or giving workshops for mental health professionals throughout the United States and Canada.



To learn more about Dr. Burns, you can check out his Wikipedia page or read a recent article about Dr. Burns by Robert Strauss in the Stanford Magazine.

About TEDx, x = independently organized event In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)

How to Learn: Pretty Much Anything

Some good practical tips on why it is so hard to change and learn new stuff.


A trick I use to stop procrastinating is to tell myself that I would do that thing for as little time possible, like studying or exercising for 30 seconds. As soon as I started I would realize that it wasn't so painful and keep doing it

Men and women sin differently, according to Vatican study

Men:
1. Lust
2. Gluttony
3. Sloth
4. Anger
5. Pride
6. Envy
7. Greed

 

Women:
1. Pride
2. Envy
3. Anger
4. Lust
5. Gluttony
6. Avarice (Greed)
7. Sloth

From :telegraph.co.uk -- the year 2012

By Alastair Jamieson

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Pride is the most common sin committed by women, the report found, but ranks only at number five for men, who are most prone to lust, followed by gluttony.

The results of survey, which was based on an analysis of confessional data carried out by 95-year-old Jesuit priest and scholar Roberto Busa, have been echoed by the Vatican.

Monsignor Wojciech Giertych, personal theologian to Pope Benedict XVI and the papal household, told the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano: "Men and women sin in different ways. When you look at vices from the point of view of the difficulties they create you find that men experiment in a different way from women."

After lust and gluttony, the third most common sin by men is sloth followed by anger, pride and envy with avarice at the bottom.

For women, envy was the second most common sin after pride, followed by anger, while sloth was the least likely.

The survey also found that 30 per cent of Catholics no longer considered confession to a priest necessary, and 10 per cent even said that it "impeded their personal dialogue with God", according to The Times.

Last year the Vatican added seven new sins to the existing list: genetic modification; human experimentations: polluting the environment; social injustice; causing poverty; "financial gluttony"; and taking or selling drugs.

Biggest Congressional Scandal-- never reported

Just who is Jackson Cosko, the mastermind behind what prosecutors have called ‘the largest data breach in Senate history? What are the implications of the Imran Awan scandal and the extraordinary cover-up that followed? And how do these scandals relate to the recent arrest of billionaire Jeffrey Epstein? This is American Thought Leaders, and

I’m Jan Jekielek. Today we sit down with Luke Rosiak, an investigative reporter with a penchant for uncovering congressional scandals, and author of the book Obstruction of Justice: How the Deep State Risked National Security to Protect the Democrats. We explore the scandals Luke has been exposing: that of Jackson Cosko, who gained notoriety by doxxing Republican Senators during the Kavanaugh hearings, the near-unbelievable Imran Awan scandal where 44 house democrats’ servers were deeply compromised (and how this was then covered up.

Women: Save your marriage. In five minutes.

littlecatholicbubble.blogspot.com

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This is going to sound like a cheesy testimonial, but stay with me.
Ladies, if you have been struggling in your relationship with your husband (and sooo many women do), I know a way that you can begin to change -- even save -- your marriage. In five minutes.
Trust me on this. I've seen it happen first hand.

Caveat: If what I'm about to say doesn't apply to you, then it doesn't apply to you. The women to whom it applies will know it. I knew it. Countless other women have known it and will know it.
If your husband is physically abusive, or if he degrades and is cruel to you as a rule, then this post is not applicable. Most husbands, however, are not physically abusive nor willfully cruel. Most husbands are generally decent guys. If you are married to a generally decent (if imperfect!) man, then what I am about to recommend will likely improve your marriage, even to the point of a complete renewal. And the results and changes will begin in less than a day. Perhaps even in five minutes. And no, I'm not kidding. You will save a lot on therapy bills and get a markedly better outcome.
Some background: Over the past few months, I have been shocked and dismayed by the number of women -- faithful Catholic women -- who have contacted me to tell me of their unhappy marriages. Some (not all) of these women were hinting that they even wanted out. I was shaken by the frequency of these conversations as well as the seeming lack of sin and guilt in the husbands -- at least nothing that should be the basis for divorce, a broken family, and devastated children. That these sentiments were and are coming from devout Catholic women who do not believe in divorce and who understand marriage as a sacrament is deeply troubling.
And yet at one time, I might have felt similarly.

Fatherhood Prudence and Leadership

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[editor: I hoped to have this up for Father's Day. But it took longer than I thought.]
There are three styles of fathering:

1.Authoritarian 2. Permissive
3. Leadership

1.) Authoritarian fathering uses lots of commands, yelling and threats but little reasoning--draconian in nature.

"Fathers, provoke not your children to indignation, lest they be discouraged." (Colossians 3:21) “My sons, in my long experience very often I had to be convinced of this great truth. It is easier to become angry than to restrain oneself, and to threaten a boy than to persuade him." (St. John Bosco; Office of Readings, Jan. 31.)

2.) Permissive fathering is high on affection but low on authority. Subconsciously children can feel un-loved because they feel not worth the effort to set boundaries. Children raised by permissive parents do not learn age-appropriate behaviors and the consequences for performance or non-performance.

"What  will  become  of  boys  when  from  earliest  youth  they  are  without  teachers?...  to  exercise  this  child’s  soul  in  virtue,  to  that  no  man  any  longer  pays  heed." (St. John Chrysostum VAINGLORY and THE RIGHT WAY FOR PARENTS TO BRING UP THEIR CHILDREN #18)

3.) Leadership  fathering combines confidence  with reasoning, love, and encouragement. Yelling is avoided.

"Let us be ashamed to assume an attitude of superiority. Let us not rule over them except for the purpose of serving them better.
This was the method that Jesus used with the apostles. He put up with their ignorance and roughness and even their infidelity." (St. John Bosco; Office of Readings, Jan. 31.)

 We wish to focus on leadership fathering, which is what Christ wishes of us. Leadership is the "mean"; the virtue of prudence, between the Authoritarian and the Permissive approach.
A good  understanding of  the Catholic Faith must be instilled in the children. The Theological Virtues of faith, hope, and love, like perfume, should leave their scent in all activities.
But Piety must be virtuous --meaning balanced. The family is not for monks, soldiers, or a tool for self-fulfillment. It is a formation program for good Catholics. Teach your children short ejaculatory prayers that they should say throughout the day. Long prayers can be too much of a drudgery for young children.
Ejaculatory prayers of aspirations were esteemed among the ancient monks of St. Mark in Egypt; because, being short, they did not weary the mind.

"Wherefore they [the monks of St. Mark] think it best for the prayers to be short and offered up very frequently " (Cassian: INSTITUTES OF THE COENOBIA. ch.10)

The goal of the family, as with each individual is:

THE PRESENCE OF GOD-- prayer and virtue

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The quest for virtue must begin with prayer. Prayer is the most necessary virtue to acquire.
Why should we pray?
If God knows our needs before even we know them, why do we need to pray?
 "Your Father knows that you have need of all these things." (Matthew 6:32)
Since God was rejected by Adam in the Garden. To a certain extent, Adam shut God out of relationship with humanity; he chose it. The devil thought he had now won.
But there are other avenues God could still use, so that  His relationship with Man would not die, chief among these is prayer.

"For we pray not that we may change the Divine disposition, but that we may impetrate that which God has disposed to be fulfilled by our prayers in other words "that by asking, men may deserve to receive what Almighty God from eternity has disposed to give," as [St. Gregory the Great ] says (Dial. i, 8) "
(Summa Theologica, II-ii: Question 83--art. 2)

Our personal life on earth, because of the FALL, can be thought of as a door that is constantly closing on certain graces, and all God "needs" is for us to constantly open it; we open the door for Him to act, and receive the graces He wished from all eternity to give us. This is a condition caused by the FALL. We live in a fallen world, with a fallen nature. God warned Adam of this condition.

"Behold, I stand at the door and am knocking; if any one hear my voice and open the door, I will come in unto him and sup with him, and he with me." (Revelation 3:20)

Before the FALL God conversed with Man, as we speak to a friend. Genesis 2 indicates that God spoke to Adam about his needs.

"Then the LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.” (Genesis 2:18)

And in Genesis 3:8-9, implies  that everyday God met Adam and Eve in the cool of the day, but on the day they FELL they hide.
What is prayer?
Prayer is the raising up of the mind and heart to God.  There are 4 major forms of prayer:
Worship-- The highest is the Divine Liturgy --the Mass. We  must acknowledge God is greater than ourselves, or any created thing.

"Heaven is full, and the earth as well is full of your magnificent glory, O Lord of Hosts. Fill too this sacrifice with Your power and communion, for we offer You this living sacrifice and unbloody offering . . ."
(St. Serapion of Thmuis, "The Anaphora of Serapion" 4; A.D. 339)

Petition-- Inviting God into one's life and actions-- wisdom, protection, healing, needs...etc...

"Let us therefore, brethren beloved, pray as God our Teacher has taught us...And since we have Him as an Advocate with the Father for our sins, let us, when as sinners we petition on behalf of our sins, put forward the words of our Advocate. For since He says, that:
 "whatsoever we shall ask of the Father in His name, He will give us," John 16:23 "

(St. Cyprian of Carthage, Treatise 4: "On the Lord's Prayer," #3, --death 258 AD)