Darkness Before Dawn - 9781622034109

There’s no shortage of psychology self-help books on depression—but this collection, envisioned and edited by Sounds True founder Tami Simon, isnot one of them.

You won’t be revisiting familiar therapies or antidepressant options. What you will find is a gathering of 16 exceptional and compassionate teachers who have faced profound depression themselves. Their purpose? To radically shift the way that we perceive the experience. To offer insights and practices that reach beyond conventional models. And to help us receive depression’s uninvited yet singular gifts.

The guidance presented here supports traditional psychotherapy and medication as valuable tools. But for those who’ve found these approaches incomplete—or seek to help others at an impasse—there’s much to discover within these pages, including:

Thomas Moore, PhD, on Saturn’s gifts; Sally Kempton on shifting from suffering and into witnessing awareness; poet Mark Nepo on embracing both emptiness and aliveness; Mary Pipher, PhD, on how despair can open us to long-hidden joy; Christina Baldwin on “ineffable sorrow”; plus exceptional contributions by Parker J. Palmer, PhD; Ann Marie Chiasson, MD; James Gordon, MD; Sandra Ingerman; Karla McLaren; Robert Augustus Masters, PhD; Amy Weintraub; Jeff Foster; Elizabeth Rabia Roberts, EdD; Michael Bernard Beckwith; and Reginald A. Ray, PhD.

"Depression is more than a medical diagnosis—it is part of the sacred human journey. And this book is intended to serve as a friend and companion on that journey."
—Tami Simon, editor, Darkness Before Dawn

"This book is not meant to “fix” us, but to befriend, accompany, and inspire us in our experience of depression."
—Tami Simon, editor, Darkness Before Dawn