117 Quotes by David D. Burns

You’re not a bad person. But you sometimes do bad things. You know what that makes you? Human.

Learn to accept your limits and you’ll become a happier person.

Because of your twisted thinking, you see yourself in a trap from which there seems to be no escape. You jump to the conclusion that your problems are insoluble. Because your suffering feels unbearable and appears unending, you may erroneously conclude that suicide is your only way of escape.

It is okay to be flawed and defective, or even wonderful.

When you confront the monster you fear the most, you’ll defeat your fears.

If you’re self-compassionate, you’ll tend to have higher self-esteem than if you’re endlessly self-critical. And like high self-esteem – self-compassion is associated with significantly less anxiety and depression, as well as more happiness, optimism, and positive emotions.

The attitude that depression is necessary strikes me as destructive, inhuman, and victimizing.

You don’t have to do anything especially worthy to create or deserve self-esteem; all you have to do is turn off that critical, haranguing, inner voice.

It can work the other way as well. I have worked with many depressed patients who were still stuck after I had tried numerous psychotherapeutic interventions. When I prescribed an antidepressant medication, many of these patients started to turn the corner, and the psychotherapy began to work better. It seemed as if the medication really did help them change their negative thinking patterns as they recovered from the depression.