Table 6.

Chapter content and activities to complete in ‘Beating the Blues’ (bCBT).

Chapter title	Chapter content	Tasks to complete
Chapter 1: Understanding depression	•Types of depression •Recognising symptoms of depression •How CBT can help •Monitoring your mood	•Exercise: Monitor your moods
Chapter 2: What makes people vulnerable to depression	•Coping strategies •Factors triggering depression •Protective Factors against depression	•Exercise: Personality Characteristics and Risk of Depression •Exercise: Life Events Questionnaire
Chapter 3: How you think your way into feeling down	•The ABC of thinking, feeling + behaving •Automatic Thoughts •Common negative thoughts	•Exercise: Daily Thought Monitoring Form
Chapter 4: Breaking the lethargy circuit	•What causes lack of motivation •Good Reasons for Staying Active When Feeling Down •Common negative thoughts and testing them •Setting Weekly Goals	•Exercise: Focus on Doing •Exercise: Activity Plan •List Pleasant Events •Exercise: Treating Yourself •Exercise: Goal Setting
Chapter 5: Our thinking habits: The good, the bad and the ugly	•Thinking habits and distortions •Perfectionism and setting unrealistic expectations •Converting positives into negatives •Overgeneralising and exaggeration •Catastrophising •Ruminating	•Exercise: Listing positives •Summary of Unhelpful thinking habits •Exercise: Identifying unhelpful thinking habits
Chapter 6: Changing old thinking habits: the secret to being a happier person	•Five steps to becoming a happier person •Re-programming thoughts •Common negative thoughts and alternatives	•Exercise: The Daily Diary •Exercise: Collecting evidence to test out beliefs •Exercise: Gaining perspective •Exercise: Building resilience •Summary: Learning to question + change thinking
Chapter 7: Are you fully awake? Cultivating mindful awareness	•What is mindful awareness? •Steps to cultivating mindful awareness •Integrating mindful awareness into everyday life •Breaking old habits through mindful awareness •Calming the nervous system	•Exercise: Awareness of the five senses •Exercise: Awareness of the body •Exercise: Awareness in eating •Exercise: Meditation on the breath
Chapter 8: Boosting your self-esteem	•Belief systems and self-esteem •How to improve your self-esteem	•Exercise: Challenging perfectionism •Exercise: Enjoy your own company •Exercise: Recording your strengths •Exercise: What did I do well today? •Exercise: Keeping a gratitude book
Chapter 9: Overcoming loneliness and jealousy	•Thinking your way into loneliness •Developing resilience: how you can feel good about being alone •Overcoming jealousy •How partners can help	•Exercise: Managing your time alone
Chapter 10: Dealing with self-harm, hopelessness and suicidal urges	•Understanding, managing and reducing self-harm •Understanding and managing hopelessness •Suicidal impulses	•Exercise: When you were happy •Exercise: Positives Hunt •Exercise: Challenging suicidal thoughts
Chapter 11: Looking after your needs	•Understanding internal navigation system •Emotional literacy •Obstacles in communicating and effective communication •Internalising •Dealing with Manipulation •Developing assertive behaviour	•Exercise: Expanding emotional vocabulary •Exercise: Assertiveness questionnaire •Exercises: Early emotional needs + meeting basic needs •Exercise: Applying the action code •Exercise: Set Assertiveness Task
Chapter 12: Living with someone who is depressed: A chapter for family + friends	•Depression, family and friends and what to do •Communicating effectively with a depressed person •Eliminate unhelpful family expectations •Establish your own supports •What to do if someone is feeling suicidal •Things to do after a suicide attempt