Virtually everyone copes with significant grief and turmoil at times. WRITING THROUGH THE DARKNESS offers a menu of writing approaches--freewriting, memoir, poetry, and storytelling--to alleviate the anguish, confusion, and pain associated with depression. Quotes and writing samples from students provide inspiration and encouragement, and extensive resources direct readers to additional writing prompts, instruction, and accurate mental health information and assistance. Practical how-to discussions and plentiful exercises demonstrate how writing can help those with depression modulate their moods, develop greater insight, feel a sense of accomplishment, and reconstruct a damaged life.

"There is NO doubt in my mind that being in Dr. Schaefer's writing class has been one of--if not THE--most significant parts of my recovery."
--Roberta I.

"I believe if a person trusts the process of self-disclosure that happens naturally in writing, it can also lead them to treatment and healing. In Dr. Schaefer's writing group we do this together and it has become a wonderful form of therapy."
--Diane W....