Transforming Depression: Healing the Soul Through Creativity [Paperback]

David H. Rosen (Author)

Book Description

Series: Jung on the Hudson Books | Publication Date: May 2002

In this groundbreaking book, David H. Rosen, M.D., offers depressed individuals, their families, and therapists a lifesaving course in healing the soul through creativity. This is a book about transforming depression and its powerful pull toward suicide into a meaningful alternative. In Transforming Depression, Dr. Rosen applies Carl Jung's method of active imagination to treating depressed and suicidal individuals. Having dealt with depression in his own life and the suicides of loved ones, Dr. Rosen shows that when people learn to confront the rich images and symbols that emerge from their struggles, they can turn their despair into a fountain of creative energy. He details the paths of four patients whose work in painting, pottery, and dance - in conjunction with psychotherapy - led them from depression to a more meaningful life. Their dramatic paintings illustrate the text. Part One presents an overview of the biological, psychological, sociological, and spiritual factors involved in the diagnosis of depression. Part Two provides a new therapeutic approach to treating depression, focusing on the symbolic death and rebirth of the ego (ego-cide) as an alternative to suicide. Part Three presents in-depth case studies from Dr. Rosen's practice. Part Four discusses how we can recognize crisis points and how creativity can transform depression. The author pays particular attention to the problem of teen suicide.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

David H. Rosen, M.D., is a psychiatrist and Jungian analyst who holds the only American full professorship in Jungian psychology, at Texas A & M University, where he is also Professor of Humanities in Medicine. He is the author of four other books, including The Tao of Jung: The Way of Integrity. He lives in Texas.

Product Details

• Paperback: 302 pages
• Publisher: Nicolas-Hays (May 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0892540613
• ISBN-13: 978-0892540617
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,188,456 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Four case studies of patients recovering from depression, October 3, 1998

By 

[e-mail] - See all my reviews

This review is from: Transforming Depression: A Jungian Approach Using the Creative Arts (Hardcover)

Dr. Rosen provides a beautiful illustration of four patients' paths from depression to health. The four case studies reveal how Rosen encourages his depressed patients to express and experience themselves through creative arts-painting, dance, and pottery-during their courses of traditional Jungian psychotherapy. In the end, all four patients discover that life is a meaningful alternative to suicide.

Transforming Depression falls short with regard to its practical usefulness in treating a growing problem in our population (although the author doesn't make a claim that he intends this to be a part of his work). Dr. Rosen's innovative approach as described, requires highly trained, narrowly focused specialists-which translates to highly paid therapists whose services and skills are inaccessible to most people. It's a beautify theory, but hardly something which might be useful to solving a serious public health problem.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely Wonderful, July 23, 2000

By 

"jekyll_hyde" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Transforming Depression: Healing the Soul Through Creativity (Paperback)

This book was absolutely wonderful to see. I got it and couldn't put it down. I have lived with depression for many years and been diagnosed for 3 years. I read this book and found it very helpful. I am a poet during my depressive and non-depressive stages (not a very good one, but a poet nonetheless), and I think it is a wonderful approach that seems not to be taken very seriously. The pictures included in the book speak to me as well. I also do many collages, and they seem to help. If you want a good book, I recommend this one.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Creative understanding of depression, February 18, 2003

By 

Sherry Russell "Reviewer/author" (Vero Beach, Florida) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Transforming Depression: Healing the Soul Through Creativity (Paperback)

This is a must read for all who have struggled with depression. Dr. Rosen helps us understand depression and different ways of healing. He examines the motivations to live and the transformations that must take place. The four studies given in part three are amazing journeys to read.