I am reading the book Feeling Good for David Burns, and I am a little confused from his premise from the beginning, that our depression and anxiety are emotion disorders caused by our thoughts, underrating the genetic component. I agree that our feelings are generated by our thoughts, but do we have control over our thoughts, or some biological element plays a role in the way we think?

[jacky8807]

Well I believe we can work to change the way we think or so many people with mental disorders wouldn't find help with CBT or other therapies
I do believe we are more programmed to think a certain way from childhood experiences...
But then you have the genetic component of being prone to anxiety and depression more than others. And when depression sinks in it feels like someone else is running our mind
So basically its both nature and nurture

I don't think he is discounting the heritary factor in mental health rather instead concentrating on what can be addressed.

The beginning of the book - which is about Cognative Behaviour Therapy (CBT) - talks about negative automatic thoughts. As he points out these thoughts stem from the core beliefs about ourselves - those ways of thinking that were reinforced by lifetime experience. These automatic thoughts affect our life choices, behaviour, and decisions. They are at the heart of our Anxieties and to an extent what triggers Depression too.

The rest of the book is about strategies to deal with and change the negative into positive.

It takes a great deal of hard work - one actually ought to complete all the charts and forms provided in the book.

I have read the book in conjunction with CBT with one of my psychiatrists and I am not the same person I was even two months ago.

Admittedly it is not for everyone. I stress again that one actually has to do the homework - and continue to do so even after completing the book/program.

[JADEDAJ]

Originally Posted by Le.Monsieur.S

I am reading the book Feeling Good for David Burns, and I am a little confused from his premise from the beginning, that our depression and anxiety are emotion disorders caused by our thoughts, underrating the genetic component. I agree that our feelings are generated by our thoughts, but do we have control over our thoughts, or some biological element plays a role in the way we think?

Well, as a depression and anxiety sufferer myself, I can say that there are times where I simply do not feel that I have control over my thoughts. I wish I could always control my thoughts...but unfortunately, that is just not always the case. As far as I am concerned, depression and anxiety are forces that wreak havoc on the thoughts and minds of innocent people.

Originally Posted by rcat

I don't think he is discounting the heritary factor in mental health rather instead concentrating on what can be addressed.

...

He mentioned that genes form 15% of the problem. So, he weighs more nurture than nature. I don't know, may be he is right, but I felt the way he expressed it gave the impression that we are to be blamed for our depression and anxiety, which creates some negative feeling by itself.

Well regardless of the argument over what is the cause, I hope you can discover something helpful from it. Our genetic propensity for mental illness can't be dealt with but our thoughts and behaviour can.

[marmaduke]

As far as him saying 15% is genes that is a total guess.
He doesn't know that.
We are born with a personality, the nature/nurture balance is different for everyone.

Some will survive abuse better than others. My elder sis and I suffered badly.
My middle sister? Totally different, not sensitive at all tough, resliant, defiant.

Like I was reading about Erin Pizzey. She was the first person to create a refuge for battered women in the UK.
She recounted how bad her own childhood was. Her parents (if i remember coŕrectly) were highly intelligent and both doctors.

But home life was a nightmare, violence, bullying and abuse.
Her sister and brother, were both badly affected, silent, withdrawn and very fearful. Destroyed.

She was different however. Resilant, loud, determined. She answered back, fearless, angry she defied them regardless.

As an adult she became famous for her work with battered woman. She is also an author.

Why did she survive reasonably well while her siblings did not?

Genes saved her.
I suspect she herself might be on the low empathy spectrum (like her parents) with psycopathic traits. That would explain her exterordinary resisilance.

The nature/nurture debate is hard to quantify as there are so many variables.

Sent from my SM-N910F using Tapatalk

Originally Posted by rcat

Well regardless of the argument over what is the cause, I hope you can discover something helpful from it. Our genetic propensity for mental illness can't be dealt with but our thoughts and behaviour can.

I agree. But emotionally, different articulations of the same thing has different effects. Like if he said for example, some people are genetically predisposed to negative thinking, but with more conscious effort and commitment this can be overcome, is more acceptable, at least for me, than merely saying that our thoughts caused our depression and anxiety, implying that we are responsible of our depression and anxiety in the first place. I don't think people choose to be more negative than normal people. There must be some biological factor. My objection is just about the articulation.

[continuosly blue]

Originally Posted by Le.Monsieur.S

I agree. But emotionally, different articulations of the same thing has different effects. Like if he said for example, some people are genetically predisposed to negative thinking, but with more conscious effort and commitment this can be overcome, is more acceptable, at least for me, than merely saying that our thoughts caused our depression and anxiety, implying that we are responsible of our depression and anxiety in the first place. I don't think people choose to be more negative than normal people. There must be some biological factor. My objection is just about the articulation.

So why don't you write your own book with the correct "articulation".

When you read anything what you are reading is the author trying to get across THEIR ideas , thoughts , perceptions , facts , non-facts etc....
It's easy to take things out of context or twist words around .

If you quit dissecting every sentence written you might just get to understand
what is being said , taking the complete context of the whole book into consideration.

I think complicating the issue , the way you do , is part of "your problem".
Speaking for myself , "overthinking" something , can cause me as much problems as the "ignorance" I had about that problem to begin with.

Did I say that right ?