Quotes by David D. Burns

David D. Burns

A poor self-image is the magnifying glass that can transform a trivial mistake or an imperfection into an overwhelming symbol of personal defeat.

Glasses

Mistake

Self

Accept yourself. But realize your behaviors can be bad.

Accepting Yourself

Behavior

Realizing

After all, this is how you learned how to walk. You didn’t just jump up from your crib one day and waltz gracefully across the room. You stumbled and fell on your face and got up and tried again. At what age are you suddenly expected to know everything and never make any more mistakes? If you can love and respect yourself in failure, worlds of adventure and new experiences will open up before you, and your fears will vanish.

Adventure

Love

Mistake

Apologies do make a difference. Believe it or not, research shows people often prefer them over money.

Apology

Believe

Differences

Can you predict the future with absolute certainty? Your answer must be no. You have two options: You can either decide to accept yourself as an imperfect human being with limited knowledge and realize that you will at times make mistakes, or you can hate yourself for it.

Hate

Mistake

Two

Depression has been called the worlds number one public health problem. In fact, depression is so widespread it is considered the common cold of psychiatric disturbances. But there is a grim difference between depression and a cold. Depression can kill you.

Differences

Numbers

World

Despite their differences, pride, shame, and guilt all activate similar neural circuits, including the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, amygdala, insula, and the nucleus accumbens. Interestingly, pride is the most powerful of these emotions at triggering activity in these regions – except in the nucleus accumbens, where guilt and shame win out. This explains why it can be so appealing to heap guilt and shame on ourselves – they’re activating the brain’s reward center.

Powerful

Pride

Winning

Every time you feel depressed about something, try to identify a corresponding negative thought you had just prior to and during the depression. Because these thoughts have actually created your bad mood, by learning to restructure them, you can change your mood.

Bad Mood

Depression

Trying

Guilt serves a powerful social function in terms of policing our behavior.

Behavior

Guilt

Powerful

If a hungry lion suddenly appeared, you’d be terrified. So terrified you’d probably run away. Great, fear’s doing its job. But you might get so afraid that you lock up and can’t move. This would be very bad. Guilt’s the same. It can prevent you from fixing the situation, make you feel so bad you can’t function at 100% and even lead to more guilt-provoking bad behavior.

Jobs

Moving

Running

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Accepting Yourself

Adventure

Air

Anxiety

Apology

Attitude

Bad Mood

Behavior

Behavior Change

Believe

Depression

Differences

Errors

Father

Feel Better

Focus

Giving

Glasses

Guilt

Hate

Hero

Honor

Hurt

Jobs

Kids

Light

Love

Lying

Men

Mistake

Moments

Moving

Nuisance

Numbers

Opportunity

Peculiar

Perfection

Persistence

Powerful

Pride

Real

Realizing

Regret

Running

Self

Self Esteem

Sound

Stars

Stress

Stupid

The Future Blueprint

Tool

The Home Therapist: Anti Anxiety

Tool

The Autobiography

Tool

The Behaviour Diary

Tool

The Dating Diary

Tool

The Relationship Therapist

Tool

Quotes by David D. Burns

David D. Burns

A poor self-image is the magnifying glass that can transform a trivial mistake or an imperfection into an overwhelming symbol of personal defeat.

Accept yourself. But realize your behaviors can be bad.

Apologies do make a difference. Believe it or not, research shows people often prefer them over money.

Can you predict the future with absolute certainty? Your answer must be no. You have two options: You can either decide to accept yourself as an imperfect human being with limited knowledge and realize that you will at times make mistakes, or you can hate yourself for it.

Depression has been called the worlds number one public health problem. In fact, depression is so widespread it is considered the common cold of psychiatric disturbances. But there is a grim difference between depression and a cold. Depression can kill you.

Every time you feel depressed about something, try to identify a corresponding negative thought you had just prior to and during the depression. Because these thoughts have actually created your bad mood, by learning to restructure them, you can change your mood.

Guilt serves a powerful social function in terms of policing our behavior.

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Topics by David D. Burns

Popular Tools

The Future Blueprint

The Home Therapist: Anti Anxiety

The Autobiography

The Behaviour Diary

The Dating Diary

The Relationship Therapist

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