Further Reading — Chapter 32: Anxiety, Depression, and the Spectrum of Distress

Foundational Academic Sources

Beck, A. T., Rush, A. J., Shaw, B. F., & Emery, G. (1979). Cognitive Therapy of Depression. Guilford Press. The foundational text of cognitive therapy for depression — Beck's formulation of the negative cognitive triad, the cognitive distortions, and the treatment protocol. Still in print and still the conceptual foundation of CBT for depression. Parts are dated; the core framework is not. Serious readers should engage with the primary source.

Clark, D. M., & Wells, A. (1995). A cognitive model of social phobia. In R. G. Heimberg, M. R. Liebowitz, D. A. Hope, & F. R. Schneier (Eds.), Social Phobia: Diagnosis, Assessment, and Treatment (pp. 69–93). Guilford Press. Clark and Wells's influential cognitive model of social anxiety — introducing the concept of self-focused attention and the safety behaviors that prevent disconfirmation of feared negative outcomes. The conceptual foundation for understanding why social anxiety is maintained even when feared outcomes rarely occur.

Hayes, S. C., Strosahl, K. D., & Wilson, K. G. (1999). Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: An Experiential Approach to Behavior Change. Guilford Press. The original ACT text — introducing the concepts of cognitive fusion, experiential avoidance, psychological flexibility, and the six core ACT processes. Technical in places; essential for understanding the ACT model in depth. Hayes's subsequent popular writing is more accessible.

Segal, Z. V., Williams, J. M. G., & Teasdale, J. D. (2002). Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Depression: A New Approach to Preventing Relapse. Guilford Press. The clinical manual for MBCT — covering the rationale, the eight-session protocol, and the research supporting its efficacy for recurrent depression. The most authoritative source on what MBCT actually involves and why it works.

Barlow, D. H., Farchione, T. J., Bullis, J. R., Gallagher, M. W., Murray-Latin, H., Sauer-Zavala, S., ... & Cassiello-Robbins, C. (2017). The unified protocol for transdiagnostic treatment of emotional disorders compared with diagnosis-specific protocols for anxiety disorders. JAMA Psychiatry, 74(9), 875–884. The RCT demonstrating that the Unified Protocol (targeting common mechanisms across anxiety and depression) is non-inferior to disorder-specific CBT protocols. The most important recent evidence for transdiagnostic approaches.

Martell, C. R., Addis, M. E., & Jacobson, N. S. (2001). Depression in Context: Strategies for Guided Action. Norton. The source of behavioral activation's clinical articulation — covering the rationale, the evidence, and the treatment protocol. More accessible than many clinical texts; the treatment logic is clearly explained.

Books for General Readers

Burns, D. D. (1980). Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy. William Morrow. David Burns's classic popularization of cognitive therapy for depression — covering the cognitive distortions, the thought records, and the behavioral techniques in highly accessible form. One of the most widely read self-help books in history and consistently ranks in bibliotherapy research as among the most effective. Not a substitute for therapy in clinical depression, but a powerful complement and an accessible first entry into the cognitive model.

Burns, D. D. (1999). The Feeling Good Handbook. Plume. Burns's follow-up, covering anxiety more extensively than Feeling Good — including the avoidance/safety behavior framework, exposure principles, and specific protocols for social anxiety, panic, and OCD. More comprehensive than the original. Together, the two Burns books represent the best accessible library for understanding and beginning to work with the CBT model.

Hayes, S. C., & Smith, S. (2005). Get Out of Your Mind and Into Your Life: The New Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. New Harbinger. Hayes's accessible introduction to ACT for general readers — covering psychological flexibility, cognitive defusion, acceptance, and values-based action through exercises and case examples. An excellent entry point for readers who find the cognitive model too focused on changing thought content.

Williams, M., Teasdale, J., Segal, Z., & Kabat-Zinn, J. (2007). The Mindful Way Through Depression: Freeing Yourself from Chronic Unhappiness. Guilford Press. The accessible companion to the MBCT clinical text — written for people experiencing depression, covering the mindfulness-based approach to breaking ruminative cycles and preventing relapse. Includes a guided mindfulness practice CD. The most accessible entry into MBCT for general readers.

Solomon, A. (2001). The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression. Scribner. Andrew Solomon's Pulitzer Prize-winning book on depression — part memoir, part reportage, part history, part science. Covers the biology, the treatments (medication and therapy), the cultural dimensions, and the subjective experience of depression with remarkable depth and honesty. The chapter on treatments is particularly useful for readers navigating treatment options. Essential reading for anyone who wants to understand depression from the inside.

Rachman, S. J. (2004). Anxiety (2nd ed.). Psychology Press. A comprehensive clinical and research text on anxiety — covering the theory, the evidence base, and the treatment approaches. More technical than the Burns books; valuable for readers who want depth and rigor.

On Exposure Therapy

Craske, M. G. (2015). Optimizing exposure therapy: An inhibitory learning and inhibitory regulation approach. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 58, 10–23. The contemporary reformulation of exposure therapy in terms of inhibitory learning — Craske's argument that the mechanism is not habituation (anxiety decrement) but new learning that competes with old learning. Accessible to motivated general readers; changes how practitioners design and explain exposure. Available in many institutional libraries.

Foa, E. B., & Kozak, M. J. (1986). Emotional processing of fear: Exposure to corrective information. Psychological Bulletin, 99(1), 20–35. The original emotional processing model of exposure — establishing that exposure works by activating the fear structure and providing corrective information. Historically foundational; Craske's work updates and extends it.

On Suicidality

For readers who want to understand suicidality, crisis intervention, or the evidence base for prevention:

Joiner, T. E. (2005). Why People Die by Suicide. Harvard University Press. Thomas Joiner's interpersonal theory of suicide — proposing that suicide attempts require the confluence of thwarted belongingness, perceived burdensomeness, and acquired capability for self-harm. Well-written, research-grounded, and notable for its compassion alongside its rigor.

Crisis resources (US): - 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline: call or text 988 - Crisis Text Line: text HOME to 741741 - International Association for Suicide Prevention directory: https://www.iasp.info/resources/Crisis_Centres/

The Character Reading Lists

Jordan is working through: - Feeling Good (Burns) — Dr. Nalini recommended it; Jordan is using the thought record exercises between sessions; he has noted that the all-or-nothing thinking and the disqualifying the positive are the patterns he recognizes most - Get Out of Your Mind and Into Your Life (Hayes) — Dr. Nalini's second recommendation; Jordan found the defusion exercises more tractable than he expected; the "I am having the thought that" formulation has become a genuine tool

Amara is working through: - The Noonday Demon (Solomon) — Dr. Liang recommended it; Amara is reading it partly for clinical context and partly for the permission the memoir-form gives her to be honest about the lower periods in her own recent history - Mindful Way Through Depression (Williams et al.) — for clinical use with clients, but also because she recognizes the ruminative patterns in herself and wants the MBCT framework more accessible than the clinical manual