"Depression brings to us strong feelings of hopelessness, a sense of worthlessness, and a more insistent awareness of death," writes Philip Martin, who has worked as a psychiatric social worker and case manager for Washington County Communities Services in Minnesota for 15 years. "Depression is in many ways like suffering from a broken heart."
Using meditations and visualizations he has developed as a practitioner of Buddhist psychology, the author cuts a path through this malaise of body, mind, and spirit that afflicts more than 20 million Americans. Depression enables individuals to look more closely at fear, self-disgust, separation, the judging mind, pain, apathy, and the futility of trying to control things.
For Martin, the Zen path through depression is an occasion for self-knowledge and personal growth. He reveals how Buddhist practices such as paying attention, seeing without blame, and living in gratitude can provide healing balm for those suffering from a broken heart.
