Mohamad Shabib
Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying) · September 16, 2026
Mind Over Mood is a cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) workbook by two clinical psychologists, Dennis Greenberger and Christine A. Padesky. It teaches readers to notice how thoughts, moods, actions and body reactions feed each other, and to practise skills for changing that pattern, alone or alongside a therapist.
This guide covers its ideas in our own words, the research and its limits, and when a workbook is not enough. It is commentary, not a stand-in for the book, which you can borrow from a library or buy from a bookstore.
It is a hands-on CBT workbook, meant to be worked through rather than only read. Its publisher, the Guilford Press, says it addresses depression, anxiety, anger, guilt, shame and low self-esteem, among other problems, and reports more than a million copies in print (Guilford Press, book page).
Both authors have direct ties to Aaron T. Beck, who developed cognitive therapy. According to his centre's website, Dennis Greenberger, who founded and directs the Anxiety and Depression Center in Newport Beach, California, was trained and mentored by Aaron and Judith Beck. Christine A. Padesky's Center for Cognitive Therapy, now in Huntington Beach, says she and Kathleen A. Mooney opened it in Newport Beach in 1983 at Beck's request. Our guide to Meditations by Marcus Aurelius looks at CBT's older, Stoic roots.
The book works from a five-part model: the situation you are in, your thoughts, moods, behaviours and physical reactions all influence each other. If a friend has not answered your message, the thought that they are annoyed with you can bring anxiety, a tight chest and repeated phone checking, each making the thought feel truer. A mood can be hard to change directly, but a thought or an action can be a place to start.
For low mood, CBT works on behaviour directly: planning activities that have slipped away, starting small, which clinicians call behavioural activation. A behavioural experiment tests a belief through action, with a small, planned step you choose. Experiments are for fears that may be bigger than the real risk, not for testing how someone who has hurt or threatened you will react, or for forcing yourself through overwhelming distress; if you are unsure a step is safe, plan it with a therapist.
Some problems are real rather than distorted, and CBT is not meant to talk you out of them; it turns to practical problem-solving. If someone is hurting, threatening or controlling you, confronting them is not a step to take alone. If you are in immediate danger, call 911; if you are thinking about suicide or self-harm, call or text 9-8-8 (Canada, 24/7). Our resources page lists services for victims of violence.
A thought record is a written way of pausing a moment of strong emotion: catching the automatic thought that came with it, weighing that thought against the evidence, and reaching a more balanced view. The aim is not positive thinking; a balanced thought still takes the hard facts into account.
Beneath everyday thoughts sit underlying assumptions, the unwritten rules people live by, and core beliefs about themselves, others and the world, such as a belief that you are unlovable. As the research below suggests, this is work to take slowly and preferably with support.
You use it by doing it: filling in worksheets and practising between readings, alone or as homework agreed with a therapist. Guilford's FAQ says buyers of the second edition can download its sixty worksheets and copy them for personal use or with individual clients, but not share them from websites or resell them (Guilford Press, Mind Over Mood FAQs). Free PDF copies of the book or its worksheets posted elsewhere are not authorized; a public library is a no-cost option.
Guilford says the 2015 edition adds twenty-five new worksheets, more on anxiety, chapters on personal goals and keeping progress going, material on happiness and gratitude, and exercises on mindfulness, acceptance and forgiveness. TEO does not offer acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) or mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT).
The book teaches CBT, which has a large body of trials behind it, but the one study we found built on the book tested clinician-led therapy, not reading alone. Three hundred and fifty-six outpatients with a primary mood disorder attended fourteen two-hour group sessions using the Mind Over Mood protocol, and researchers tracked their use of three skills (Hawley et al., 2017, Behavior Therapy).
These are associations, not proof of cause; clinicians delivered the treatment; and Padesky is a coauthor. The core-belief finding does not prove that this work makes symptoms worse, but it is a reason not to dig into your deepest beliefs alone, especially when your mood is low, and to pause if it leaves you feeling worse.
You can learn CBT skills on your own, but the evidence is clearer for self-help with some practitioner support, and thin for a book used entirely alone.
A 2010 meta-analysis of twenty-one randomized trials, with eight hundred and ten participants, found no significant difference between guided self-help (materials plus some practitioner support) and face-to-face therapy for depression and anxiety, after treatment or up to a year later (Cuijpers et al., 2010, Psychological Medicine). A 2011 meta-analysis of seven trials, with one thousand three hundred and sixty-two participants, found a small but significant effect on depressive symptoms for self-guided treatment with no therapist or coach contact. But six of those trials tested internet programs, and the one trial of a self-help book used alone found an effect of about zero, leaving open that unguided self-help works online but not in book form (Cuijpers et al., 2011, PLOS ONE). Your doctor can tell you about guided programs where you live.
It covers anxiety, but we did not find a trial of the book itself for anxiety disorders. A 2012 meta-analysis of fifty-six trials, with four thousand seven hundred and thirteen participants, found that self-help for anxiety disorders (by book, computer or internet, sometimes with limited therapist contact) had a moderate to large effect against a waiting list or placebo, and a small effect favouring face-to-face treatment. DARE reviewers urged caution, citing possible publication bias and uncertain evidence quality (Haug et al., 2012, Clinical Psychology Review, reviewed by DARE).
New or unexplained chest pain, breathlessness or fainting needs a doctor's check before you put it down to anxiety; call 911 if symptoms are severe. For ongoing worry or panic, see anxiety therapy.
The published critiques we found concern CBT itself.
Two points concern the book itself: its publisher's marketing claims more than the one study built on it can test, and a workbook needs concentration and energy that low mood can take away.
When you are depressed, a book about changing your thinking can land as blame. Depression and anxiety can involve biology, loss and circumstances such as discrimination, migration, money pressure or an unsafe relationship; struggling is not proof you are thinking wrongly.
It may suit you if you like structured, written practice or want to understand CBT before therapy. Consider a professional's support, or pausing the book, if:
For learning CBT skills in a structured way, it is a reasonable choice from two clinicians close to cognitive therapy's origins, with three caveats: the evidence is clearer for guided use than for a book used alone, the behavioural sections deserve as much attention as the thought records, and core-belief work is better paced with support. Reading it is not the same as treatment with a clinician or an assessment by a qualified professional.
A therapist can do what a workbook cannot: catch a thought as you describe it, notice when a problem needs action rather than rethinking, pace deeper belief work, and watch for signs that your mood is worsening.
At TEO Counselling, Mohamad Shabib, MACP, CCC, is trained in CBT, with CBT for Trauma Levels 1 and 2. He is a Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying) with the College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario (CRPO) and works online with clients in British Columbia, Ontario, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Newfoundland and Labrador, in English or Arabic. Alison Shaji, MA, RCC #22608 (BCACC), is trained in CBT and works with clients in British Columbia only, in English, Hindi or Malayalam.
Individual sessions are $150 per 60 minutes, with no referral needed, and the first step is a free 15-minute consultation by video or a scheduled phone call, booked online.
This guide is commentary, written to help you decide whether Mind Over Mood is for you. It is not a substitute for reading the book, and it is not a substitute for professional help. To talk through whether CBT fits what you are dealing with, book a free consultation online, or text (519) 760-5211 with a question first. This text line is not a crisis service.
Mind Over Mood is a cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) workbook by clinical psychologists Dennis Greenberger and Christine A. Padesky. It teaches readers to notice how situations, thoughts, moods, behaviours and physical reactions affect each other, and to practise CBT skills such as thought records, on their own or alongside a therapist. It is a workbook, not an assessment or a diagnosis.
According to the publisher, the Guilford Press, people who buy the second edition can download its sixty worksheets and copy them for personal use or with individual clients, but not share them from websites or resell them. Worksheet or book PDFs posted on other websites are not authorized by the publisher. A public library is a no-cost way to read the book.
The book teaches CBT, which has a large research base, though a 2010 analysis concluded that publication bias appears to inflate the reported effects of psychotherapy for depression. The one study we found built on the book's own program tested clinician-led group therapy for mood disorders; its findings are associations between skill use and symptoms, not proof that the book works when read alone, and one of the book's authors coauthored it.
You can learn CBT skills on your own. A 2010 meta-analysis found that guided self-help, with some support from a practitioner, can have comparable effects to face-to-face therapy for depression and anxiety. A 2011 meta-analysis of self-guided treatment with no therapist contact found a small effect on depressive symptoms, but six of its seven trials tested internet programs, and the one trial of a self-help book used alone found an effect of about zero. If your mood is very low, get support rather than working through it alone. If you have thoughts of suicide or self-harm, call or text 9-8-8 (Canada, 24/7), or call 911 if you are in immediate danger.
Guilford's FAQ says it depends. If the first edition has helped and you are satisfied with your progress, you may not need the second; if you want additional skills and strategies, you may want it. According to the publisher, the second edition adds expanded anxiety content, chapters on setting personal goals and maintaining progress, and exercises on mindfulness, acceptance and forgiveness, with more emphasis on meaning, satisfaction, gratitude and happiness.
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