Depression and Metaphysics
What helps? What hurts?
Having worked in spiritual publishing for more than 20 years, I’ve had the mixed blessing of seeing how the sausages get made.
I’ve personally witnessed bestselling inspirational and metaphysical writers — including some you may avidly read and follow — behave with truculence, anxiety, and occasional freakouts. (In their defense, they’ve probably experienced the same from me.)
I’ve had co-workers come running into my office in tears after some author known for dedication to mindfulness, meditation, and “spiritual activism” tore them a new one over a petty or perceived slight or inconvenience.
The fact is that the spiritual search does not equate with or necessarily result in emotional health. Too often, the search can actually serve as a diversion from the workaday issues of accountability, maturity, and maintenance of normative relationships.
To be sure, I have often written in defense of positive-mind metaphysics. I have witnessed motivational philosophies (such as those espoused by Anthony Robbins) and programs of spiritual mutual aid (such as Alcoholics Anonymous) make a great difference in the lives of people in recovery. But when someone is suffering from crippling depression or intense anxiety, the urging to “be positive,” in whatever form, can come…
