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Gerald G. May, MD, one of the great spiritual teachers and writers of our time, argues that the dark 'shadow' side of the true spiritual life has been trivialised and neglected to our serious detriment. Superficial and naively upbeat spirituality does not heal and enrich the soul. Nor does the other tendency to relegate deep spiritual growth to only mystics and saints. Only the honest, sometimes difficult encounters with what Christian spirituality has called and described in helpful detail as 'the dark night of the soul' can lead to true spiritual wholeness.
May emphasizes that the dark night is not necessarily a time of suffering and near despair, but a time of deep transition, a search for new orientation when things are clouded and full of mystery. The dark gives depth, dimension and fullness to the spiritual life.
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Since the dark night and depression so often coexist, trying to distinguish one from the other is not as helpful as it might first appear. With today’s understanding of the causes and treatment of depression, it makes more sense simply to identify depression where it exists and to treat it appropriately, regardless of whether it is associated with a dark-night experience.
I want to restate this, because it can prevent unnecessary suffering and in some cases even be lifesaving. If someone is experiencing symptoms of significant depression, it is important that those symptoms be recognized and acknowledged, and that the person receive at least a psychiatric consultation concerning treatment. It’s wonderful if the same person happens to be experiencing something of the dark night of the soul as well, but the presence of the dark night should not cause any hesitation about treating depression. Because of recently developed medications, depression is now recognized as a very treatable dis-order, and it is a crime to let it go unattended.
The signs of clinical depression are becoming well known these days and are generally recognizable in oneself or others if time is taken to consider them. They include such symptoms as difficulty concentrating and making decisions, persistent sadness, 157
The Dark Night of the Soul hopelessness, anxiety, pessimism, guilt or a feeling of worthlessness, fatigue and lack of energy, insomnia, early morning awakening or oversleeping, decreased appetite and weight loss or overeating and weight gain, thoughts of death or suicide, and various persistent physical symptoms that do not respond to treatment.