David D. - Ten Days to Self-Esteem

In 1988 I began the first pilot study of the self-esteem training groups, which were based on an early version of this book, at the Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church in Phoenix. The Reverend Dick Hamlin, Dr. Dennis Hunter, Jan Robinson, and many other members of the congregation worked extremely hard to make that project a success. Their faith and hard work were invaluable.

My friend and colleague Dr. David Soskis, associate professor of psychiatry at Temple University School of Medicine, suggested additional pilot tests in a wide variety of settings to answer questions such as these: Would the self-esteem training groups be received equally well by other religious groups? Would the groups be helpful in other settings, such as schools, universities, prisons, hospitals, day treatment programs, mental health clinics, nursing homes, and community self-help groups?

Michael Greenwald, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist in Pittsburgh, generously offered to supervise additional pilot studies of the self-esteem training groups so that we could begin to address these questions. Dr. Greenwald encountered outstanding success. This greatly increased my confidence that the self-esteem training groups could help many people from extremely diverse walks of life.

I then discussed the project with Diane Kiddy, M.S.S., vice president of behavioral medicine at the Presbyterian Medical Center of Philadelphia. Since the groups had been so successful on an outpatient basis, we decided to pilot-test them with inpatients. We felt there was a strong need to develop inpatient treatment models that would be more therapeutic, compassionate, and effective.

We decided to test the self-esteem program at The Residence, a short-term, inexpensive residential treatment facility at the Presbyterian Medical Center. This was a challenging test, because many of the patients at The Residence suffer from extremely severe mood disorders, drug addiction, and schizophrenia. In addition, many are unemployed and have very little education. Furthermore, the average length of stay at The Residence is only ten daysdue to the new pressures to keep mental health costs lowso we needed a treatment program that would be intensive, upbeat, and fast acting.

My friend and colleague Bruce S. Zahn, M.A., director of psychological services at the Presbyterian Medical Center, worked with me to adapt the self-esteem training groups for The Residence beginning in the fall of 1991. Based in no small measure on Bruces enthusiasm, warmth, and leadership, that program has been another tremendous success. The patients have been very excited about the groups, and the majority have experienced rapid improvements in their moods and outlook.

I am very greatly indebted to Bruce Zahn and Diane Kiddy for invaluable assistance and collaboration in this effort. The enthusiastic support of Carol Persons, M.D., medical director, and Elizabeth Dean, program administrator of The Residence, has also been crucial to the success of our work. Thank you!

I would also like to thank I. Donald Snook, Jr., president of the Presbyterian Medical Center of Philadelphia, for persistent encouragement and strong leadership. Because of the positive results of our efforts, he has generously offered to support the development of a national training and research program at the Presbyterian Medical Center, so that mental health professionals from around the country can come and learn from what we have developed in order to create similar programs in their own communities.

Many of the ideas in this book were pioneered by two creative and courageous colleagues who have greatly influenced my thinking. During the 1950s, Dr. Albert Ellis, a psychologist in New York, was one of the first to popularize the notion that our thoughts create our moods. During the 1960s, Dr. Aaron Beck, a psychiatrist at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, described the intensely negative thinking patterns of depressed people. He began to develop specific therapeutic strategies, which he called cognitive therapy, to treat this disorder. Since the time of these two great thinkers, there have been important contributions to our understanding and treatment of mood disorders by numerous clinicians and researchers in America and abroad. This has truly been a team effort, and I owe them all a debt of gratitude.

I would like to thank my administrative assistant, Marilyn Cooper, for support in running my office and helping many people from around the country who have called asking for help. People are always telling me, Marilyn Cooper is super . She gave me so much help when I called. Theyre absolutely right! I am fortunate to be working with Marilyn and grateful for her help.

I would like to thank Toni Sciarra, my editor at William Morrow, for her wonderful help and support in preparing the new introduction for the 1999 edition of Ten Days to Self-Esteem . I would also like to thank my daughter, Signe Burns, for her brilliant editing and TLC!