The Bright Side of Dark Moods
‘The Night Vision,’ studies the complex realm of human emotions, especially the suppressed and undesirable. Alessandri presents a trail of philosophical thoughts on understanding human behaviour, which often gets overshadowed in the glitter of Pop Psychology. The title of each essay is self-explanatory to hint that the conversations will be about the burgeoning ‘mental health problems.’ However, the book initiates unconventional and refreshingly mind-bending dialogues. Trained in Philosophy, Alessandri guides the readers through a historical voyage by drawing upon the works as well as personal narratives of philosophical luminaries like Søren Kierkegaard, Audre Lorde, Miguel de Unamuno, C. S. Lewis, Gloria Anzaldúa, Jean-Paul Sartre, who understood, experienced their dark moods, and developed a ‘night vision.’
Nevertheless, the book does not aim to advocate any particular path to this ‘night vision.’ Instead, it attempts to initiate a conversation dismantling stereotypes about dark moods. For this, it transcends the discourse of Modern Psychology that has endorsed pharmaceutical intervention and Positive Psychology.
The book is timely because it questions the growing culture of positivity, medication, and self-help in the face of the worldwide mental health epidemic. According to the World Health Organization, in 2019, one in eight people, which equals 970 million people globally, have lived with a mental disorder. The pandemic adversely affected these statistics. These fact sheets indicate a growing need for intervention by Psychology, Psychiatry and Social work professionals, among others. The gap between demand, supply, and the inaccessibility of professional help is making it easier for people across the globe to fall into the rabbit hole of the billion-dollar industry of Self-help and Pop Psychology. The biggest problem is the blind promotion of positivity in multiple forms like positive thinking, practising gratitude, mind training, healing, and positive behaviour. It is not that any of these things are bad, but in substitution to the professional care of dark moods, this is alarmingly dangerous. Alessandri gives personal accounts of herself, and philosophers throughout history who were repeatedly advised to inculcate positivity in different forms, and the results were not favourable. Instead, acceptance and attempting to understand these ‘unwelcomed moods’ proved helpful. Frequent mentions of Pop Psychology literature and trending books on self-help make the readers aware of the author’s extensive research in the hope of finding something useful.
For a better understanding of human behaviour, people usually look up to Psychology for help. Psychology, as a discipline, has now, more often than before, become dominated by an isolated, decontextualised understanding of human beings. This internalises existing social structures, giving the individual power to control and change but also increasing the tendency to self-blame. The discipline preferentially looks within the individual more than the context in which the individual is situated. Consequently, the individual starts looking for insufficiencies within themselves rather than taking the external factors that may be playing a relevant role into consideration. The result is an increase in autonomy and control, self-praise in victory, and self-blame in setbacks.
An addition to this misery is the prevalence of Neoliberalism. Neoliberalism is not just an economic doctrine but has reconfigured human activities into market logic. This has reformulated meanings of selfhood and identity. This new economic arrangement has created new subjectivities among the people. The primary characteristics of the emerging neoliberal subjectivities are autonomy, self-responsibilization, abstraction of the Self from society, and
enterprising tendencies. Neoliberalism is not a unified concept but is changing the social and psychological landscape worldwide. This has created a sense of freedom and creativity while simultaneously alienating man from his surroundings. Consequently, personality traits become commodities that can be marketed through workshops, life coaching, consulting services, and self-help tools. In the light of Neoliberalism, these dark moods emerge as lazy, weak, and a failure and hindrance to efficiency.
Under the Neoliberal framework, individuals tend to internalise social issues that result in guilt, self-blame, and even harm. Alessandri repeatedly mentions the prominent problem with this practice. A case in point being, that when a social issue like body shaming is internalised and labelled as a diagnosable disease, Bulimia, what emerges is a troubled individual and never a troubled society. When this individual is exposed to self-help tools, the ‘individual homework,’ as Alessandri puts it, replaces the real ‘societal homework’ where the root of the problem often lies.
Repeated mentions of gendered roles and norms that may impact a woman's mental health add to the argument of internalizing social issues instead of addressing them at a societal level. Alessandri’s ‘lived experiences’ add to this globally prevalent concern. While discussing her domestic life during the pandemic, Alessandri hints at some of these societal norms and expectations that put her mental health in a spot. Her juggling with writing, motherhood, and wife among other roles presents her as the “weaker sex” because society is not taught to appreciate those roles as much as the earnings of the male members of the family. She backs her arguments with evidence from philosophy. She tried to find solace in the works of her Philosopher friends Aristotle and Audre Lorde when she was unable to make sense of the trending books from Pop Psychology. Alessandri’s Covid anger was caught swinging between Lorde who helped her in “recognizing and resisting the extra expectations” being put on her and Aristotle’s approval in feeling angry if one’s not reacting to it. Her experiences speak for many more people who cannot keep up with the expectations of positivity, as preached by Pop Psychology.
This gap between psychiatric and societal narratives of mental illnesses hints at people's growing inability to relate to therapies or other treatments. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy's growing popularity is an ideal example to explain Alessandri’s crisis. CBT, like other techniques, internalises systemic issues and invalidates a person’s ‘lived experiences’ that may stem from social, political, or economic events. Now, these events impact many people altogether yet distinctively. Everyone’s uniqueness sets them apart from others in understanding and dealing with such problems. She correctly words this when she says, “Psychologists are in danger of missing the forest of societal dysfunction for the tree of dolor sitting on their couch”.
Examples to support this worry are numerous. The biomedical model on which the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) runs, treatments like Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and recovery programs like Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) are just a few of them. However, the point of the book is different. After highlighting the problem, Alessandri moves to the plausible solution, too. The light metaphor used throughout the book weaves several issues together. The reference to light and dark as perceived by society is brought under scrutiny. She proposes to stop feeling bad about feeling bad. Her ideas, backed by several philosophers, suggest that we should attempt to understand, accept, and work on these dark moods instead of suppressing them. The book's title encourages us to develop a night vision, the ability to see ourselves in darkness. Only when we adjust our eyes to the dark do we begin
to see these moods and ourselves as humans. Embracing this darkness helps one overcome the internalisation of societal issues, too. The ‘light’ metaphor extends beyond moods to issues of colour, race, and gender. One instance is when Alessandri points out that the association of wisdom with dark skin is still looked at with suspicion as much as dark moods like sadness or anger.
Another case in point is Alessandri’s reference to left-handed people in a right-hand-dominated world with depression. The biases and ignorance they undergo, especially in contemporary neoliberal times, are eye-opening. Neoliberal tendencies of autonomy and control present a person undergoing depression as lazy, unfit, and often incapable of living up to societal standards, internalising the stain and shame. This viewpoint diverts people’s attention from structural inefficiencies to unhealthy labelling of human beings.
Alessandri’s references from Philosophy do not advise us to treat ourselves from severe mental disorders but to discover new sides of these dark moods through a night vision that enabled these philosophers to produce some of their finest works, become better human beings, develop much-needed emotions of empathy, warmth, and compassion.
Through this book, Alessandri is extending upon the long tradition of thought on dark moods and human behaviour developed by her ancestors in the discipline. Historically speaking, before mental health professionals took over the job of narrating human behaviour, philosophers were the primary storytellers of the soul. This book is, therefore, a gentle reminder to the Psy disciplines to bring back the philosophical inquiry it departed from and synergise with it for humankind's betterment.
Overall, this book aptly justifies its title and intention of conveying the idea of night vision and its importance in combating the toxic positivity bred by the self-help industry and pop psychology. The author’s argument is centrally aligned throughout the book with her message to not feel bad about feeling bad. Pop Psychology literature is flooded with mental health tips and self-help, but this book is unique because it conveys a different message about mental health. The philosophical foundations of Alessandri’s arguments throughout the book are a desirable addition.
With its references from Aristotle to Sartre, the book demands the reader to have some rudimentary knowledge of philosophy. With that said, she has bravely undergone the daunting task of breaking down some of the greatest philosophical works for the reader's ease, which is one of the book's greatest strengths. Additionally, the book is timely to make people ponder upon the promotion of positivity, autonomy, and self-responsibilization that is proliferating indefinitely. Alessandri’s exploration of dark moods and their impact on our understanding of the world is thought-provoking and emotionally resonant. Her ability to captivate the reader with stories that are as much about the past as the present enhances the reading experience. This book is highly recommended to those inundated with the light and feeling light and embark on the journey of seeing themselves in darkness through night vision.
Ayushi Jolly is a PhD Scholar in Social Psychology at Jawaharlal Nehru University, India. Her areas of research include Neoliberalism, Self and Subjectivities, and Migration. Her doctoral research focuses on exploring the neoliberal subjectivities of students. Outside the academic sphere, she finds solace in mountains and the world of non-fiction.
She can be reached at ayushijolly16@gmail.com.
