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What if we don’t get depressed, but instead depress ourselves? John Snyder says, ‘We depress ourselves by not allowing ourselves to fully feel what we are feeling.’ But wasn’t I depressed because I was already feeling too much I always got myself into trouble by painting black pictures (judgements) and thinking, ‘Things will always be like this. I will never be happy.’
Dr. Snyder taught me to distinguish between feeling happy, sad, or resentful, and judgments. By separating my feelings from judgements, I can honor that I am feeling sad, or hurt, or overwhelmed right now and that is okay. By engaging my dark feelings and rejecting judgments, and I can feel my way back into the light and ride the ebb and flow of my emotional tide. This book can be a road map out of despair. The ideas presented here were exactly that for me.
—Richard Kagan, visual artist.
An original and compelling book for anyone who is searching for an alternative to the quick fix, pharmaceutical-industrial approach to managing depression. John Snyder distills his message of radical wisdom for us all to see depression in a fundamentally different light.
—Don Kushon, M.D., Psychiatry, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA
John taught me that to run from anxiety is to experience the lifelessness and lethargy of depression. Depression is anxiety placed on the back burner. I also learned that intimacy and anxiety go hand in hand. Every meaningful relationship one enters, whether it is with self, other, or one’s creator, is filled with anxiety and …that’s okay. By embracing anxiety every step of the way, I used this experience to help others find their way, anxiously, one step at a time. Enjoy the book.
—Gerry Evans, Men’s Resource Center
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In this revolutionary new book on music and emotion, Dr. John A. Snyder shows us how not to get depressed. Drawing on 40 years of clinical experience as a psychotherapist, he demonstrates that antidepressant pills are dangerous, addictive, and don’t work. What does work is listening to feelings and moving toward the very feelings we object to most. Snyder illustrates the special relationship between music and emotion by exploring the inner life of composer Gustav Mahler (1860-1911). Often wrongly portrayed as neurotic, Mahler was actually quite resilient, despite the many tragedies of his short life — a strength that came from his ability to listen to his darkest feelings.
Overcoming Depression without Drugs explains how all of us can access that same emotional strength in our own lives. Written in a direct, conversational style and filled with personal stories from Snyder’s life and practice, the book is designed to be a bedside companion to which readers can return again and again for insight and support.
“Dr Snyder forcefully challenges what is currently being taught in professional schools and to the public about feeling states. His insights are invaluable for any person interested in how we understand and integrate feeling into our daily lives. I especially recommend this book to any professional who works with people suffering from depression.”
—Dr. William Packard, psychiatrist
“Interwoven with Mahler’s riveting life story ,Dr. Snyder has another agenda: a sweeping analysis of how sadness–which should be viewed as a normal part of the life experience– has been hijacked and given a new identity as a “Disease” requiring “Treatment” with a drug, courtesy of the pharmaceutical industry.
—Dr. Donald Kushon, psychiatrist
“Like Leonard Bernstein in his “Young People’s Concerts,” John Snyder makes Mahler come alive. He traces the emotional threads that are woven through Mahler’s life-in-music, creating a tapestry that helps us better understand our own ‘life symphony’ and how to orchestrate it. The book’s lively and straightforward style makes even subtle concepts easy to grasp.”
—Dr. Judith D. Fisher, psychiatrist
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We fly in a moving medium of air. We live in a moving medium of feelings. In Flying Lessons, clinical psychologist Dr. John Snyder weaves together these two realms, drawing on his experiences as a licensed pilot to illuminate the existential truths that have helped him transform the lives of troubled men and women for more than 35 years.
Part adventure story, part philosophical meditation in the tradition of Saint-Exupery, Flying Lessons offers a fresh perspective on timeless problems of anxiety, depression, and relational conflict.
Each of the book’s eight chapters begins with a dramatic incident from Dr. Snyder’s 2000-hour flight log: the sheer terror of a total power loss, the disconcerting moment when the sky above becomes indistinguishable from the sea below, the sensation of spiraling toward the earth in a stall, the shock of emerging from a cloud bank to find a mountain peak rising dead ahead.
Dr. Snyder uses each of these flying stories to generate a metaphorical lesson about the nature of human relationships, illustrating general principles for sustaining joy and intimacy with case histories from his clinical practice.
Written in a straightforward, unpretentious, personal style, Flying Lessons is designed for everyone who desires a more exciting and intimate life…and for everyone in the helping professions who would like to be more effective in their practice.
