It looks like Dr. David Burns just released a new book called Feeling Great

Hey friend - Good on you for quitting all that stuff. Thats just impressive.

I have 2 book recommendations for you. One is The Culture Series if you haven't run into it. Some of my favorite scifi. I used to be the same way where I would read almost entirely nonfiction and started reading a bunch of scifi. I'm actually more likely to read fiction in general now.

The other one is a book called "Feeling Great" by Dr. David Burns. It talks about some of the newer techniques he has developed. You may find the book itself to be helpful, or while reading it you might find it interesting to try to find a therapist who is using the TEAM-CBT technique he talks about in the book. There is also the Feeling Good podcast. I've only listened to a little bit of that so I can't recommend it or not.

In any case. I'm sorry you're feeling that way. Remember that just because you feel this way now, doesn't mean that you'll always feel this way. Life has a lot of seasons.

I encourage anyone feeling depressed here to read the book Feeling Great by Dr. David Burns. Also you can listen to his podcast: https://feelinggood.com/category/dr-davids-blogs/feeling-goo...

His podcasts cover a lot of the book and have some live therapy sessions etc...

If you are in the Bay area he works with a clinic that dos TEAM therapy in Mountain View.

I consider myself an expert in depression and anxiety having had them since I was a teenager. His book Feeling Good helped me. I first picked it up 10-15 years ago and never read it. I finally did read some of it in the past 2 years, but in actuality it has been the podcasts that have really helped.

There's another podcast called "Therapist Uncensored" that is also really great.

I'd recommend that you find a therapist to discuss your burn out. It sounds like an acute episode so seeing a professional could help. They can help you ask the right questions and stop the fly wheel. It sounds like you are engaging in some self reflection too which they can help with and you've reached out here so again I'd say a therapist will help you. It certainly helped me.

Another good resource is the Feeling Good podcast by David Burns and his book Feeling Great. It takes longer to work through it. I found that my burn out left me so tired it was hard to read! I was able to listen though.

https://feelinggood.com/2019/12/16/171-ask-david-burnout-phy...

This last point is going to sound counter intuitive but my burn out was the best thing that happened to me.

Among my top recommended life skills that I think may help people is the ability to manage one's feelings. You can train yourself to respond to fears and anxieties in productive ways, navigating through challenging life situations without being reduced to a minimal version of who you are.

Don't take the following as an authoritative source on the subject. Use it to get started on your own path of development.

1. Meditation. It's in fashion for a very good reason. People continue to recommend it as the single most valuable practice one can adopt to improve oneself. As you grow more mindful of your feelings, you can better manage them. Meditation is a practice. You can think of it as going to the gym for half an hour and training on one single muscle. The more you train, the stronger that muscle gets!

2. Cognitive behavior therapy (CBT). This is a broad subject. A therapist is very helpful, if you can afford one, but own your self improvement and try not to depend on financially unsustainable counseling. Therapy is very helpful and sometimes essential. Use it to acquire life skills. The aspect of CBT that I would like to draw attention to involves the ability to manage fears and anxieties, and consequently depression, using the process of identifying cognitive distortions and reframing concerns. A great intro book to the subject is "Feeling Good" by David Burns, who recently published a sequel, "Feeling Great" after almost forty years of development since the book was published. Burns has a blog, podcast, and teamed up with product folks to create an upcoming mobile app.

3. Rest and recovery. Initially, I was just going to mention sleep, which is a very tough subject, especially when dealing with insomnia. Not resting enough taxes the system. Plan down time and protect it. Address insomnia holistically.

Be well, my friends.

You are not the only one and you are not alone. It is not too late and you are worth it!

It sounds like you had a difficult and traumatic past. My parents never beat me but they weren't there emotionally for me and they themselves were emotionally immature (and in some sense still are). They stayed together for us kids and that was a disaster. I am still dealing with the fallout. But as kids we are highly perceptive and learn coping skills to manage in an environment we have little control over. We take these skills through our lives even when they no longer serve a purpose or help us thrive.

In general, it is our thoughts that create our mood. I suggest reading the book Feeling Great by David Burns MD or his older book Feeling Good. He also has a podcast. That's what some people call bibliotherapy and then well podcastherapy. https://feelinggood.com/category/dr-davids-blogs/feeling-goo... If you can find a therapist I would go see one. Schools usually have one available. Others have sliding scales. Focus on specific issues you have and take it one day at a time. The patterns in the mind are quite consistent and common so just as you trust a doctor to heal a broken bone you should trust the professionals to help you through challenging times and give you tools for the future.

We measure ourselves based on years and often lose sight of that it is the days that build us. And these days are built on hours. Start small.

Your CS education will help you and if you enjoy it and programming then you will go far. Education is the most powerful force we have to improve our lot in life. You don't have to be perfect. There are plenty of folks who failed out of high school, got a GED and then eventually went to medical school and even graduate school. Like the stock market past performance is not a predictor of future success.

This is a MVP for the CBT app. I have observed a rise in my general depression and anxiety due to pandemic. And as it happens we experience depression, anxiety and anger from moment to moment. Instead of making it a disorder, it should be classified something like exercise. The step by step approach of exercising your mind to overcome the undesirable feelings. The negative distortions are part of us since the beginning of time. They helped us survive in the jungle so they are here to stay. What changed is our environment from dangerous jungle life to Instagram social wars and Sugar advertisements. I want to build an app which works like a google map for mind.

And also it's only built for web at the moment. I want to focus on the algos and scoring and the UX of the app.

The present version only contains the evaluation sessions which are recommended to be taken once a week. The therapy program for depression, anxiety and anger will be launched in coming weeks.

The evaluation sessions are taken the Feeling great book by Dr. David Burns. There are many CBT books out there which are an inspiration for this app. Mind over Mood is a prominent one among all the books for CBT.

I want to build the app with science/research backed techniques rather than just mood journaling. I want this app to be a replacement for therapist, atleast for day-to-day negative feelings we face.

Tech Stack -
1. NextJS
2. Firebase
3. ChakraUI

Please comment any feedback about the app.