Healing Through the Dark Emotions : The Wisdom of Grief, Fear, and Despair

Nautilus Book Award Gold Winner A psychotherapist offers “crucial” guidance on how to “alter fundamentally our fearful relationship to deep feelings,” from depression and anxiety to grief and fear ( Los Angeles Times ) We are all touched at some point by the dark emotions of grief, fear, or despair. In an age of global threat, these emotions have become widespread and overwhelming. While conventional wisdom warns us of the harmful effects of “negative” emotions, this revolutionary book offers a more hopeful view: there is a redemptive power in our worst feelings. Seasoned psychotherapist Miriam Greenspan argues that it’s the avoidance and denial of the dark emotions that results in the escalating psychological disorders of our time: depression, anxiety, addiction, psychic numbing, and irrational violence. And she shows us how to trust the wisdom of the dark emotions to guide, heal, and transform our lives and our world. Drawing on inspiring stories from her psychotherapy practice and personal life, and including a complete set of emotional exercises, Greenspan teaches the art of emotional alchemy by which grief turns to gratitude, fear opens the door to joy, and despair becomes the ground of a more resilient faith in life. “This remarkable book has taught me a whole new way of thinking.” —Harold Kushner, author of When Bad Things Happen to Good People “A beautiful piece of work destined to become a perennial classic.” —Martha Beck, author of The Joy Diet

Nautilus Book Award Winner

We are all touched at some point by the dark emotions of grief, fear, or despair. In an age of global threat, these emotions have become widespread and overwhelming. While conventional wisdom warns us of the harmful effects of "negative" emotions, this revolutionary book offers a more hopeful view: there is a redemptive power in our worst feelings. Seasoned psychotherapist Miriam Greenspan argues that it's the avoidance and denial of the dark emotions that results in the escalating psychological disorders of our time: depression, anxiety, addiction, psychic numbing, and irrational violence. And she shows us how to trust the wisdom of the dark emotions to guide, heal, and transform our lives and our world.

Drawing on inspiring stories from her psychotherapy practice and personal life, and including a complete set of emotional exercises, Greenspan teaches the art of emotional alchemy by which grief turns to gratitude, fear opens the door to joy, and despair becomes the ground of a more resilient faith in life.

"We are all touched at some point by the dark emotions of grief, fear, or despair. In an age of global threat, these emotions have become widespread and overwhelming. While conventional wisdom warns us of the harmful effects of "negative" emotions, this revolutionary book offers a more hopeful view: there is a redemptive power in our worst feelings. Seasoned psychotherapist Miriam Greenspan argues that it's the avoidance and denial of the dark emotions that results in the escalating psychological disorders of our time: depression, anxiety, addiction, psychic numbing, and irrational violence. And she shows us how to trust the wisdom of the dark emotions to guide, heal, and transform our lives and our world. Drawing on inspiring stories from her psychotherapy practice and personal life, and including a complete set of emotional exercises, Greenspan teaches the art of emotional alchemy by which grief turns to gratitude, fear opens the door to joy, and despair becomes the ground of a more resilient faith in life."--Publisher Listening To Pain -- Vulnerability : The Power Of No Protection -- How Dark Emotions Become Toxic -- The Alchemy Of Dark Emotions : Three Skills, Seven Steps -- From Grief To Gratitude -- From Despair To Faith -- From Fear To Joy -- We Live In The World And The World Lives In Us -- Global Healing In A Brokenhearted World -- Thirty-three Emotional Exercises. Miriam Greenspan. Reprint. Originally Published: C2003. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [301]-309). A leading psychotherapist explains how to use one's negative emotions and pain, including depression, anxiety, fear, grief, and despair, to transform one's life, drawing on examples from her own practice to demonstrate how such dark emotions link us to the world around us and provide a path to growth, wisdom, and true happiness. Reprint. Explains how to use negative emotions and pain, including depression, anxiety, and fear, to transform one's life, demonstrating how such dark emotions provide a path to growth, wisdom, and true happiness. "HEAL US, OH LORD, that we may be healed," prays Tevye the milkman in Fiddler on the Roof. "FOR SOME THIRTY YEARS as a psychotherapist, I've listened to painful stories."