Hilary Smith isn’t keen about Zen, but she does need company. Isolation and depression are the wolves at the door of her mountain cabin.
How does a meditator deal with episodes of major depression?
The teachers are asked how a meditator deals with episodes of depression.
I Want to Tell You About Coming Apart and Struggling Through Depression
A moving account by Susan Moon of her journey back from depression, and how her Buddhist practice both helped and hindered her.
What Meditation Can’t Cure
Meditation wasn’t designed to heal psychological wounds, explains Debra Flics. She cautions not to see it as a replacement for psychotherapy.
Dark Night of the Meditator
Josh Bartok gives advice on how to meditate without provoking unhealthy psychological states.
Buddhism Is Not a Treatment for Mental Illness
A new article in The Atlantic says more Americans with mental illness are turning to Buddhism for mental health treatment. Experts might advise otherwise.
I Thought I Was Alone
I’ve been a Zen practitioner for thirty years. Ten years ago I was in a deep depression. If I sat down to meditate, demons would torment me.
How to work with the “Winter Blues”
Perhaps these days of less sunlight are opportunities for more contemplative time, more looking deeply to see what can only be seen in the dark.
Offer Your Depression
Once I was in a meeting with a publisher to discuss a book I was writing (for which he had paid a tidy sum). He hated it. He hated me.
Every Day a Reprieve
Josh Korda knows he is not cured—and he never will be—but through honesty and diligence he enjoys a daily reprieve from depression and addiction.