Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, Vol. 23, No. 3, 2004, pp.

347-351
HOPE AND DEPRESSION
SNYDER

HOPE AND DEPRESSION:

A LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS
C. R. SNYDER
The University of Kansas, Lawrence

It is suggested that balance is a fundamental and adaptive aspect of human existence. Using this premise, the author presents hope as a natural balancing force
against depression.

The Schoeneman, Schoeneman, and Stallings article differs from the

typical fare in the Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology. Instead of recounting an experiment, this study analyzes the content of William
Styrons book Darkness Visible, which is an autobiographical rendering of his bout with depression. Although this target article breaks
new ground in terms of its approach, I found that the take-home message was a revered one in our field. Namely, I believe Schoeneman et
al.s careful analysis of the metaphorical content of Styrons book
shows the importance of a sense of balance in attaining psychological
health.
At this point, you may be wondering how balance can be gleaned
from the writings of a person who is in the throes of a profound, clinical depressionas most certainly William Styron was. Indeed, the severely depressed person is swamped with catastrophizing thoughts.
Everything seems bad through the lens of depression, as relationships, work, and other life arenas are covered with a shroud of darkness. Styron tells us that unless we have been truly depressed, we cannot understand the depths of despair that are reached. It was only
when I made this plunge into depression myselfbecause of the effects of severe and chronic physical painthat I knew how true this
is.

Address correspondence to C. R. Snyder, Psychology Department, 340 Fraser Hall, The

University of Kansas, 1415 Jayhawk Boulevard, Lawrence, KS 66045; E-mail:
crsnyder@ku.edu.

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Precisely because it is so difficult to understand what it is like to be depressed, a writer needs the highest caliber of linguistic ammunition to
capture the severity of this experience. In this regard, there is nothing
more powerful than the metaphor in helping another to understand
ones inner thoughts and feelings (Snyder, 1997). The metaphor allows
us to go skin-diving into the inner struggles and demons that are the
daily fare of depressed thoughts. As such, I think that a major contribution of the Schoeneman et al. target article is to show how effective and
pervasive such metaphoric language is in conveying the misery of the
depressed persons saga.
Using the Darkness Visible metaphor in his title, Styron reasons that
there is something inherently evil and malevolent about the dark. It is
the place that we avoided assiduously as children, and yet, when we are
depressed, it becomes our unwanted destination. This book title also
suggests that there is a vividness about the darkness, so much that it is almost palpable. I remember as a child when my family visited Carlsbad
Cave, and the guide told us that he was going to turn out the lights. Before doing so, however, he informed us that it would be 50% darker than
anything we had experienced previously, including the darkest of
nights. It was dark, but my guess is that this tour guide had never
experienced clinical depression!
Most depressed clients with whom I have worked as a clinical psychologist use this darkness term to describe their lives. Aching to have
other people who understand their plight, they labor mightily to explain
this land of darkness. This psychological darkness represents a journey
that is characterized by suffering, victimization, a sense of having fallen
into an abyss, evil, danger, isolation and confinement, mystery and uncertainty, and endlessness. It is, to hear these depressed people talk, a psychological death of the living. Many of these same terms were used by Styron
to describe his own depression (see Tables 1 and 2 of Schoeneman et al.).
It should be noted, however, that the darkness metaphor for depression extends well beyond the Styron book. Other people who have suffered with depression also have written eloquently about the darkness
and pain. My personal favorite is a book titled Holiday of Darkness
(Endler, 1990), which was written by noted psychologist Norman
Endler. His small volume provides a moving account of being engulfed
by the shadows of depression, and I found it all the more poignant because it was penned by a fellow psychologist.
My point about balance starts by realizing that even in the darkest
dark of depression, there still can be some psychological lightsome
sliver of hope. In my clinical and research work with people who are depressed, they have described such hope in terms of light, survival, restoration, return, goals, and arising. Again, these are the same terms that Styron

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uses in his book (see Tables 1 and 2 of Schoeneman et al.). Research also
supports this contention about pockets of hope within seemingly hopeless people. That is to say, severely depressed people have at least one
arena in their lives where they are not depressed (Pelham, 1991, 1993).
Likewise, depressed adults and children report that they are not totally
lacking in hope (Snyder, Harris, et al., 1991; Snyder, Hoza, et al., 1997).
I am reminded here of the myth of Phoenix. This legendary bird lived
for decades flying over the Arabian Desert. Eventually, it came crashing
to the earth and was consumed in flames. In time, however, this powerful bird reconstituted itself from its own ashes and flew off anew
(Snyder, 1996). Over time, as the person emerges from the depths of depression, this metamorphosis happens because the smallest patch of
hope has grown to provide a light out of the despair (Snyder, 1994, 2000,
2002). Within the psychological makeup of troubled people, however
extreme those persons may seem in their particular problems, there are
balancing psychological assets that can be called upon for help. This latter belief reflects my roots in positive psychology, where strengths are
considered along with the sole emphasis on weaknesses (Snyder &
Lopez, 2002).
I think that my positive psychology perspective rests on a fundamental belief in the power and pervasiveness of the balancing forces in human nature (and nature more generally). Thus, that there is strength in
the person who is seemingly without assets is but one manifestation of a
larger principle in psychologythat of balance. Balance can be observed
in many psychological theories and phenomena.
Indeed, the notion of balance is not a new one in psychology. Perhaps
one of the most influential and elegant theories in all of social psychology is Fritz Heiders balance theory (Heider, 1958), where the thoughts
and feelings about other people must be consistent with each other. For
example, if I like Stan, and I also like Zach, then Stan and Zach should
like each other. Or, people have a need for uniqueness that counterbalances their needs to fit in and conform (Snyder & Fromkin, 1980). Likewise, wisdom reflects a balance between personal goals and the goals
that are for other people (Baltes, Glck, & Kunzmann, 2002; Sternberg,
1998). Lastly, in perhaps the oldest example of balance, eastern philosophies highlight the synergy that comes from the antagonistic and yet
mutually operative forces of the yin and the yang (Morton, 1995). There
are many other examples of such synergistic balance, but I think the
point has been made.
Time, according to folklore, offers us the best chance for healing. For
me, this old adage does not get it quite right. I think that it is the active
work of human hope, over time, that restores the balance in our lives

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(Snyder, 1996, 1998). Consider the words of Theodore Roethke (1975, p.

5), in his poem The Lost Son (The Return):
A lively understandable spirit
Once entertained you.
It will come again.
Be still.
Wait.

Perhaps depression is the grandest test of people waiting for this lively
spirit to return. It usually does, however, and in so doing hope has
brought back the balance in our lives.

REFERENCES
Baltes, P. B., Glck, J., & Kunzmann, U. (2002). Wisdom. In C. R. Snyder & S. Lopez (Eds.),
Handbook of positive psychology (pp. 327-347). New York: Oxford University Press.
Endler, N. S. (1990). Holiday of darkness. Toronto: Wall & Thompson.
Heider, F. (1958). The psychology of interpersonal relations. New York: Wiley.
Morton, W. S. (1995). China: Its history and culture. Boston: McGraw-Hill.
Pelham, B. W. (1991). On the benefits of misery: Self-serving bias in the depressive self-concept. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 61, 670-681.
Pelham, B. W. (1993). On the highly positive thoughts of the highly depressed. In R. F.
Baumeister (Ed.), Self-esteem: The puzzle of low self-regard (pp. 183-199). New York:
Plenum.
Roethke, T. (1975). The lost son. In The collected poems of Theodore Roethke (p. 55). New York:
Doubleday.
Snyder, C. R. (1994). The psychology of hope: You can get there from here. New York: Free Press.
Snyder, C. R. (1996). To hope, to lose, and hope again. Journal of Personal and Interpersonal
Loss, 1, 3-16.
Snyder, C. R. (1997). Right brain psychotherapy: Have you heard the one about metaphors? [Review of the book Psychotherapeutic metaphors: A guide to theory and practice], Contemporary Psychology, 42, 132-133.
Snyder, C. R. (1998). A case for hope in pain, loss, and suffering. In J. H. Harvey, J. Omarzu,
& E. Miller (Eds.), Perspectives on loss: A sourcebook (pp. 63-79). Washington, DC: Taylor & Francis.
Snyder, C. R. (2000). The hope mandala: Coping with the loss of a loved one. In J. Gillham
(Ed.), Optimism and hope (pp. 124-148). Radnor, PA: Templeton Foundation/Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Snyder, C. R. (2002). Hope theory: Rainbows in the mind. Psychological Inquiry, 13, 249-275.
Snyder, C. R., & Fromkin, H. L. (1980). Uniqueness: The human pursuit of difference. New
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Snyder, C. R., Harris, C., Anderson, J. R., Holleran, S., Irving, L. M., Gibb, J., Yoshinobu, L.,
Langelle, C., & Harney, P. (1991). The will and the ways: Development and valida-

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tion of an individual differences measure of hope. Journal of Personality and Social

Psychology, 60, 570-585.
Snyder, C. R., Hoza, B., Pelham, W. E., Rapoff, M., Ware, L., Danovsky, M., Highberger, L.,
Rubinstein, H., & Stahl, K. J. (1997). The development and validation of the Childrens Hope Scale. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 22, 399-421.
Snyder, C. R., & Lopez, S. (Eds.). (2002). Handbook of positive psychology. New York: Oxford
University Press.
Sternberg, R. J. (1998). A balance theory of wisdom. Review of General Psychology, 2, 347-365.