Ask Lemmy

It was recommended by my psychiatrist, and I'm glad I read it, but I hated Feeling Good.

It's got good advice, and the the techniques are sound, or supposedly clinically backed or whatever. But Burns' style of presenting a patient and then solving all their problems with one quirky treatment really rubbed me the wrong way.

Legally, I'm sure each patient in his book is probably a composite of patients with similar problems. And I'm sure that it's probably more narratively pleasing to show each trial as a success. But I don't know, it just felt so dismissive of the actual struggles of my life and I worry that it gives unrealistic expectations to people who need help.

I felt like I had to try a dozen techniques before I found one that seemed to help. And when I did, it wasn't the overnight cure to my anxiety that he presented, it's been a slow, gradual thing. It was hopeful to find something that helped, but overall I think the book was discouraging because it made me feel like there must be something wrong with me that I'm not having the immediate success that Burns seemed so confident of.

So I don't know. Overall I think it's a useful book, I just wish it was presented differently. I also worry that if it was required reading, you'd get this influx of well-meaning but dismissive people who think that any problem can be solved by whatever the thing their teacher vibed most with. For a lot of people, until they go through their own struggle with mental health it's like it doesn't exist for them. Perhaps doubly true for teenagers with an undeveloped sense of empathy.

Aside, I liked Dr Faith Harper's Unfuck Your Life series. It's got the same bones as Feeling Good, but it's more modern, her style is more grounded, and I think it's important that she sets expectations by telling the reader that not everything in psychiatry is a magic bullet solution.

I also think the Unfuck series is neat because each book is smaller but tailored to a specific focus. Unfuck your Anxiety has different exercises than Unfuck your Depression. I think that makes it more accessible for people who are going through it, although perhaps it does lessen the depth that a required reading list would need from a single book. Not that they'd ever teach Unfuck your Life in school because swear words are bad even though teenagers literally wouldn't care.

Anyway, long story long, I think they absolutely should teach this stuff in school but gosh I hate that specific book