Customer Reviews

Good Mood

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
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The premise of Simon's theory is that depression is due to our tendency to compare ourselves to others, how we used to be, what we hope to be, etc. It sounds simplistic, but the book is actually very comprehensive. Rather than making generalizations about all depressed people, he details many different methods and combinations of methods so that you can choose the ones that will work for you.

This is an excellent overview of the practical insights of cognitive science. And Simon adds a genuinely original contribution to the field: The idea that all our depressing thoughts spring from our universal tendency to compare ourselves or our circumstances to someone or something else. If the comparison is good, we feel good; if it is bad, we feel bad.

Of course, if you look at your own life in an overly negative or pessimistic way, your comparison may turn out worse than it really is, making you feel bad unnecessarily. And if you decide you're helpless to improve your state, that will make you depressed. From the simple idea of comparison, all the different modes of cognitive science are clarified and fit into the larger picture. Simon normally writes on economics. He wrote this book because of his own personal struggle with depression.

The book Good Mood represents an excellent scholarly but readable description of a successful therapy that helped Julian Simon in his struggle to relieve his own depression of 13 years.

The Amazon description omits mention of the book's accompanying software, the program Overcoming Depression, developed by MAIW. This program is based on advances in cognitive science and artificial intelligence.

Although somewhat detailed, this book presents a comprehensive approach to managing depression. The focus on cognitive therapies provides an efficient and effective tool. A software program is also offered, and it seems to be a potent adjunct to the book and professional counseling.

I was skeptical. Author Simon somehow cured his chronic depression with a new mode of thinking? How can that be possible? I read the raves about this book and figured, what the hell, worth a try. I have suffered depression for nearly 50 years, although never the suicidal, dysfunctional, weepy kind that leads to withdrawal from life or suicide. Julian Simon examines the type of thinking the depressed do, and the kind of messages they repeat to themselves. Yes, I, too repeated such messages myself, again and again silently. He explains what to do instead - and I'll be damned - it worked. It is not "jolly thinking," nor a mantra. It is a different way of messaging yourself, not necessarily positively, but not in the way depressed people think or talk to themselves. And it works, and quickly. I still have the tendency to sink toward depression, but I can now immediately intercept and disrupt a depressed mood before it develops. For me and many others, this book is indeed a miracle.

For some reason, perhaps because many intellectuals suffer from and write about it, depression has become a trendy psychological affliction among people who by objective criteria have little to complain about.

Julian L. Simon suffered from depression for many years, yet he was able to defeat it through an eclectic approach incorporating ideas from his Jewish cultural background, cognitive therapy, existential therapy, Eastern philosophy and other sources. It's refreshing to find someone who emphasizes that depression derives from an unhealthy form of self-absorption that needs to be disputed vigorously. Stop making comparisons between your actual life and some hypothetical "ideal" life; recognize that you have an obligation to provide an emotionally healthy environment for the people you love; cultivate the values that conflict with your depression. In general, take action against your depression instead of selfishly wallowing in it.

Although Simon mentions his economics research only in passing in _Good Mood_, I also recommend reading his books about the positive trends in the environment, population and general material well-being to provide some cognitive support for a better attitude towards the human prospect.

lofas