Sacred Sorrows (New Consciousness Reader) (Paperback)

~ John Nelson (Author) "Few maladies touch so many aspects of the self as depression..." (more)
Key Phrases: transforming depression, despairing person, despair work, Good News, Bad News, Golden Gate Bridge (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Drs. Nelson and Nelson have gathered together a highly readable collection of essays, some previously published and some original, to help the sufferer of depression and the healer to better understand themselves, each other and the condition itself. Through compelling case histories and scientific research, contributors such as Thomas Moore and Steven Levine show how depression can ultimately give those affected more than it takes away because transformation comes with extreme suffering, arguing that humanity may be able to see as much from the bottom as from the top. These 25 articulate experts make an impassioned plea to change our view of depression solely as an illness to be cured, because pathologizing depression inhibits any transcendent powers. All emotions are valuable and necessary, they say, not just the ones that feel good. Three sections comprise the anthology: Part I relates personal stories, including those of William Styron, Bruno Bettelheim and Martha Manning, to illustrate the devastating effects of depression. Part II explores varying theories about the origins of depression and sheds light on therapeutic techniques-psychotherapy, Prozac, body work, behaviorism and others. Part III introduces techniques involving chaos theory, LSD and Buddhism and uses them to show how depression can be a pathway to spiritual growth. The thread that binds this anthology together is one of hope, because it says that because depression provokes hard questions, it is also the instrument of spiritual transformation.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Description

More than twenty-five contributors, including Erich Fromm, Thomas Moore, and Bruno Bettelheim, present a new interpretation of depression as part of one's psychological and spiritual growth and explore alternative approaches to its cure. Original.

Product Details

• Paperback: 237 pages
• Publisher: Tarcher (March 5, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0874778220
• ISBN-13: 978-0874778229
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #536,218 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Enlightening, thoughtful, ecclectic, October 5, 1999

By A Customer

I bought this book for a friend in the hospital who never returned it -- he loved it so much. With excerpts on the experience, nature, degrees, causes, and alternative treatments for depression, this anthology really CAN make a sick person well. I found the chapters on grief extremely helpful. This book revitalized my confidence in the workings of psychotherapy.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A helpful resource on depression, August 4, 2000

By	Kim Boykin (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

Most books on depression focus on the author's pet approach to depression, naturally enough, but that can be frustrating for those of us who figure that there's probably more than one factor contributing to our depression and more than one way to understand and deal with our depression.

"Sacred Sorrows" is a collection of 27 essays by different authors, representing a wide variety of approaches to healing depression (including cognitive therapy, medication, Jungian analysis, nutrition, bodywork) and also a variety of approaches to "embracing" depression--that is, to understanding depression as a meaningful part of one's life and spiritual journey.

I especially appreciated Mark Epstein's contribution, "The Medicine Buddha," arguing that medication and Buddhist practice can be combined with integrity. (For those interested in Zen and depression, two other books I'd recommend are Cheri Huber's "The Depression Book" and Philip Martin's "The Zen Path Through Depression.")

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars SACRED SORROWS: Embracing & Transforming Depression, October 24, 2000

By	Barbara Davis-Thompson (NY, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This is the definitive, readable book on depression that runs the gamut from personal experience of it, to listing medical symptoms, categories and conservative to alternative cures, to embracing the process of it as the spiritual initiation and psychological rebirth that it can be. Each of the many authors who shared either personal experience, knowledge, medical or alternative healing techniques or understanding of the process of depression offer the reader a rich tapestry of information to include concentration camp experience, mid-life depression, substance abuse and depression, treatments of depression from shock to antidepressant medication, medical causes that may bring it on and varied approaches to transforming it as well as understanding its regenerative value. The book has three segments: Living with Depression, Transforming it and Embracing it filled with twenty-seven insightful and often compelling essays by a wide variety of authors. This book will grow your understanding by leaps and bounds of this ailment that not only touches all of us at some point in our lives but is also the USA's third most prevalent medical problem. The book is suberbly informative.