TEDx UC Davis: Getting Stuck in the Negatives (and how to get unstuck) presented by Alison Ledgerwood, PhD (video)

Dr. Ledgerwood’s research show us that our brains are hardwired to subconsciously focus on negative information, despite positive information to the contrary.  However, when we make a conscious decision to shift our focus to positive things…things that are already there but our brains just having been paying attention to them, we can change our view of the world and of ourselves.

TEDx Talk: Feeling Good presented by David Burns, MD

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is based on the premise that our thoughts, emotions, and behavior are all interrelated and affect one another.  Because of this, if we learn to identify when we are having “thought errors” that distort our perception of reality, often skewing to seeing things in more a negative light, we can then Dr. David Burns is a well known researcher, clinician, and public speaker.  He is one of the leaders in the development of CBT, having been trained personally by CBT’s founder, the world-renowned Aaron T. Beck, MD.  In this short video, Dr. Burns uses stories from his life experience both as a clinician and as a person, to illustrate the power of CBT and how working to change our thoughts, in a real and genuine way, can have a profoundly positive effect on how we feel.  CBT has become the strongest (most likely to succeed), “evidence-based” form of therapy for issues such as depression and Bipolar Disorder, various forms of anxiety (PTSD, phobias, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder), eating disorders, and substance use disorders.  This means that scientific research has been able to document that CBT really works for people.