'Uses of Sadness' author talks

Western culture seems "afraid of sadness", but this "soulful emotion" actually offers many opportunities for personal growth and development, visiting Australian counsellor and author Karen Masman says.

Masman, the Melbourne-based author of The Uses of Sadness, was a keynote speaker at a University of Otago mental health conference in Dunedin over the weekend.

More than 120 people attended her open lecture on "The Gentle Art of Transforming Sadness" on Saturday.

The two-day conference, organised by the university general practice department, examined the possibility New Zealand doctors often "medicalised" normal feelings such as sadness and overprescribed antidepressants.

There was a tendency for people to wish to banish all painful experiences, but many benefits could to be gained through experiencing sadness arising from a personal loss or disappointment, she said.

She drew a distinction between depression, which was a significant illness, which tended to be disabling and longer-lasting, and sadness, which was part of the normal range of human emotions.

Rather than showing something was wrong, sadness often ushered in "a fruitful time for reassessing goals and habits, developing compassion and learning to embrace the contradictions and mysteries of a rich inner world".

She also discussed ways of encouraging "sadness to move more fluidly through its natural cycle".

- john.gibb@odt.co.nz