I have some experience with cognitive-behavioral therapy. I can tell you anecdotally that it really does work, and it is among the most scientifically verified

I have some experience with cognitive-behavioral therapy. I can tell you anecdotally that it really does work, and it is among the most scientifically verified treatments out there. I'm not sure if I understand your objections to CBT -- there's a lot of them -- so let me restate them. If I've misunderstood please correct me. You seem to be saying: 1) One can control one's highest-level, "executive" thoughts, but not feelings. CBT is assuming far too much control over emotions, and it's like blaming a depressed person for not "snapping out of it". 2) It is also bad to throw off blame onto other people when you should be learning lessons about your own failures. Okay, first of all, I think you are quite mistaken about how much your emotions are related to the content of your thoughts. There are indeed people who have chemical imbalances in their mind, but for most people, their thoughts are the primary trigger of their emotions. The basic assumption of CBT is not that you should blame others more, or yourself more. The assumption is that your thinking is clouded somehow and needs to be set straight. This is usually done by rigorously stepping through every part of the thought process to reveal the errors. One should accept the blame that is due oneself, but not go any further. I never followed a program of cognitive-behavioral therapy all the way, but I have done it sometimes. I do remember a moment of revelation that occurred when I was out for a walk. CBT encourages you to slow down and listen to yourself very carefully. I noticed, for the first time, a voice in my head that was constantly leaping to very bad conclusions based on poor evidence (e.g. very minor setbacks, like an untied shoe, are connected into a pattern of lifelong failure). The thoughts were so automatic I had stopped realizing that they were thoughts at all; I only felt the wave of bad feelings that resulted from them. My personal feeling is that a lot of people have this sort of problem, rather than any chemical imbalance. Antidepressants may be primarily useful in lifting the fog enough for one to have the mental energy to start CBT. Some studies show that using both is better than either alone.