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Sounds True.com, many voices, one journey. You're listening to Insights at the edge. Today my guest is Mary Pfeiffer. Mary Pfeiffer is a clinical psychologist and the author of nine books including

Reviving Ophelia which was number one on the New York Times Best Seller List for 26 weeks.

Her area of interest is how American culture influences the mental health of its people.

With sounds true, Mary Pfeiffer contributed to a new book, Darkness Before Dawn, redefining the journey through depression. In this collection of perspectives,

there are new insights and practices that reach beyond conventional models that will help the reader receive depressions uninvited yet

singular gifts.

In this episode of Insights at the Edge, Mary and I spoke about the connection between despair and a lack of trust in the universe.

We also talked about how personal writing can be a way to work through feelings of despair.

She also offered her advice, you could say do's and don'ts,

for young therapists who are working with clients who are suffering from a great deal of despair.

And finally, Mary Pfeiffer shared with us in her view how despair cracks open the heart.

Here's my conversation with Mary Pfeiffer. So in this new anthology from Sounds True, we're looking at depression from many different

viewpoints and especially from the perspective of people who know it from the inside out.

And that's where I wanted to start Mary, which is to really understand what your view of depression is from your own

experience, how you view it, how you see it as an experience.

Well that's a real complicated question. For starters I think despair is

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