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I'd refer you to a book which really helped me out - "Learned Optimism" by Martin Seligman, which will teach you a better way to interpret the events that happen to you, and a quote from Gabriel Garcia Marquez - "What matters in life is not what happens to you, but what you remember and how you remember it."

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I took the quiz from that book -- boy that was depressing. It showed that I had a habit of explaining all good things as temporary, specific, and external, while bad things as permanent, pervasive, and personal. I'm well aware that this inconsistency defies logic. But that doesn't stop it from disrupting my life :(

I spent 6 months reading every book I could find on self-esteem, depression, etc. The Amazon Top 50 and then some. It was porn: I liked the idea of self-improvement, but lacked the motivation to do it, and after a while, reading the books just made me feel worse and sustained the depression.

I feel ya. It's almost like the self-help book industry preys on our vulnerability and appetite for this sort of information, though I certainly hope the authors set out with better intentions.

It's possible. I tended to like Learned Optimism because they backed up everything in there with research and data.

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