David Burns Feeling Good: Depression :: essays research papers

David Burns Feeling beneficial Depression     In the book Feeling Good , David Burns, MD, the author, outlinescertain cognitive techniques an separate suffering from depression could usein combating the disorder. He begins the book by briefly describing the applicability and the prevalence of depression. The author captures the audiencesattention in the first dissever " In fact depression is so widespread it isconsidered the common cold of psychiatric disturbances" (Burns, 1992) p. 9.Burns(1992), bides to suggest that the difference between the common coldand depression lies in the fact that depression is lethal. Irwing and BarbaraSerason (1996) suggest that at least 90 percent of all suicide victims sufferfrom a diagnosable psychiatric disorder at the time of their death. Irwing andBarbara Serason (1996) also state that one of the risk factors in committingsuicide is the presence of mood disorder. Silverman (1993) states that suicideamong young peopl e 15 to 19 eld of age has increased by 30 percent from theyears 1980 to 1990.     In my opinion David Burns brings up a valid issue in addressing thepertinence of depression as it pertains to peoples tendencies of committing asuicide other academics have agreed with the same findings. However theseacademics have not specifically stated that depression is the scarcely risk factorof committing a suicide. They did not even suggest that depression is theheighest weighted risk factor in committing a suicide. The impression thereader gets later on reading the introductory paragraph of the Feeling Good book isthat severe depression will inevitably result in suicide unless it is cured.Implying that if a individual has a depressive disorder, it will lead to a suicidecan be dangerous and counterproductive for a person who already feels hopelessthis may reaffirm their belief of hopelessness and the inevitability of thedisorder.     Once the first par agraph is passed the author indicates that there ishope in curing depression, giving the reader an encouragement to continue withthe book.     According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of MentalDisorders(DSM-IV), mood disorders are classified into two broad categories,bipolar and unipolar depressive disorders. The book Feeling Good only talksabout the unipolar depressive disorders, thus, I will only concentrate on thatone category. Unipolar mood disorders are classified chthonian axis I of the DSM-IV.Unipolar depressive disorders are further classified into two categoriesdysthymic, and major depressive disorder. Even though both of the disorders aremood disorders they have whatsoever fundamental differences and similarities.According to DSM-IV people experiencing major depression must have depressedmoods and/or diminished interest for at least two weeks, for well-nigh of the day,