Table of Contents
Dedication viii
Acknowledgement x
Foreword 1
Introduction 3
Part I
Chapter 1 Asking the Right Questions 13
Chapter 2 What is Depression? 15
Depression as an Illness of Being 19
Moderate to Major Depression 23
Seasonal Affective Disorder 27
Bipolar Disorder 29
Dark Night of the Soul and Creative Depression 34
Loss of Spiritual Connection 34
Chapter 3 Depression as a Spiritual Journey 36
Chapter 4 The Meaning of Suffering 42
The Three Levels of Suffering 44
Suffering through the Lens of the Major Religions 46
Suffering as Service 49
Chapter 5 Persephone and the Underworld 52
The Story 54
Will and Choice 56
Unpacking the Myth 58
A Moral Compass 66
The Light in the Darkness 67
Part II
Chapter 6 Tools on the Journey 69
Medical Intervention 69
My Own Experience 70
The Healing Field 71
Serotonin and Depression 73
Neurotransmitters and the Role of Neurons 76
Depression and the Brain 79
Glial Cells - the Clue 80
Antidepressants 81
Side Effects 88
Why Medication doesn't Always Work 89
What to do when Medication does Work 90
The Difficulty in Accepting Medication 91
Chapter 7 The Roots of Psychology 99
Psychodynamic Therapy 102
Cognitive Behavior Therapy 107
Humanistic Counseling 112
Transpersonal Psychoiogy 114
Jungian Analytical Therapy 317
Post Jungians and Creative Depression 124
Jung and Assagioli 124
Chapter 8 My Journey into Psychosynthesis 127
Psychiatrist, Mountaineer and Mystic 131
As Above, so Below 133
Part III
Chapter 9 Going Deeper 137
Sea Journey as Metaphor 138
The Odyssey 140
Chapter 10 Spiritual Emergency to Spiritual Emergence 144
Stanislav Grof, A Psychiatrist withInsight 149
A Psychotic Episode or Spiritual Emergency 154
Spiritual Emergency and the Dark Night of the Soul 157
Distinctions between the Self and the Superconscious 164
Distinctions between Mystical Experience and Schizophrenia 164
Spiritual and Global Emergency Today 165
Chapter 11 The Dark Night of the Soul 167
Teresa of Avila 169
St John of the Cross 176
Grace 178
Chapter 12 Defining the Dark Night 180
Dark Night of the Senses 181
Dark Night of the Spirit 186
Chapter 13 Depression and the Dark Night of the Soul 191
Chapter 14 Treasure and Creative Darkness 197
Creativity as Process 204
Part IV
Chapter 15 How to be with someone who is Depressed 215
Chapter 16 Understanding Suicide 223
"I Have Lost my Angel." 223
Shame 224
Suicide in the Young 225
Suicide in the Elderly 226
Mindsets about Suicide 227
Suicide Bombers 229
Chapter 17 How to be with a Suicidal Person 232
From Doing to Being 232
As a Spiritual Journey 234
The Gift 235
Conclusion 238
Glossary 240
References 244
