Reviewer in Australia recommends Dark Nights

Mary Emeleus reviews Thomas Moore's Dark Nights of the Soul on 8 June 2010 for Eremos, Exploring Spirituality in Australia.

Emeleus writes, "I am a medically trained psychotherapist, and I often feel disillusioned by the medicalisation of life’s difficulties in our culture. The balance between illness of the body and illness of the soul is hard to define and I find Moore gives me some alternative ways of thinking. This book does not deny the existence of illnesses such as depression and anxiety, but it raises the possibility that these are life experiences which contain meaning and need to be thought about in order to find the way through. He provides a framework for that thinking process which would be acceptable to people of all faiths, and of no faith. I imagine it is not everybody’s cup of tea, but it made so much sense to me that I am unable to find anything I would have liked changed."

She mentions sources for Moore's confidence as a therapist and includes, "Indeed, he brings ideas to life through experience, thought and writing from people as diverse as the figures of Greek and Roman mythology and characters from religious texts and teachings; Dickens, Freud and Bonhoeffer; Sylvia Plath, Oscar Wilde and Emily Dickinson. He encourages us to notice and learn from the mythology around us, in film and television, in novels and paintings, and in the daily events of our culture."

At the end of her review, Emeleus states, "I discovered Thomas Moore had put into words so many things I had sensed but not been able to articulate."