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Night Vision: Seeing Ourselves through Dark Moods

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A philosopher’s personal meditation on how painful emotions can reveal truths about what it means to be truly human Under the light of ancient Western philosophies, our darker moods like grief, anguish, and depression can seem irrational. When viewed through the lens of modern psychology, they can even look like mental disorders. The self-help industry, determined to sell us the promise of a brighter future, can sometimes leave us feeling ashamed that we are not more grateful, happy, or optimistic. Night Vision invites us to consider a different approach to life, one in which we stop feeling bad about feeling bad. In this powerful and disarmingly intimate book, Existentialist philosopher Mariana Alessandri draws on the stories of a diverse group of nineteenth- and twentieth-century philosophers and writers to help us see that our suffering is a sign not that we are broken but that we are tender, perceptive, and intelligent. Thinkers such as Audre Lorde, María Lugones, Miguel de Unamuno, C. S. Lewis, Gloria Anzaldúa, and Søren Kierkegaard sat in their anger, sadness, and anxiety until their eyes adjusted to the dark. Alessandri explains how readers can cultivate “night vision” and discover new sides to their painful moods, such as wit and humor, closeness and warmth, and connection and clarity. Night Vision shows how, when we learn to embrace the dark, we begin to see these moods—and ourselves—as honorable, dignified, and unmistakably human. Read more

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Princeton University Press


Publication date ‏ : ‎ July 30, 2024


Language ‏ : ‎ English


Print length ‏ : ‎ 224 pages


ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0691242690


ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 99


Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 7.2 ounces


Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.75 x 8.25 inches


Best Sellers Rank: #353,917 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #272 in Humanist Philosophy #532 in Emotional Mental Health #1,122 in Meditation (Books)


#272 in Humanist Philosophy:


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Top Amazon Reviews

    • Enjoying it!
Format: Hardcover
I'm only on Chapter 2 but am really enjoying the summaries and clarifications of philosophy, history, and contemporary views plus the challenges she brings to them. I am a clinical psychologist trained in the most up-to-date approaches and her calling out the insidious Brokenness Story in its various hidden and obvious forms is a breath of fresh air. So is her questioning of positivity. So many other texts are written with a kind of Disney-fied shine and hard to apply in dire situations. I have already benefitted from trying to apply this thinking in my own life, reducing embarrassment very rapidly when I connected the dots. A friend had asked if I had any weekend plans and I had been very quick and honest with my reply of, "Survival?" I was immediately embarrassed by how much I struggle as a single dad of an energetic 9-year-old, and other problems that seem to really weigh me down. The book feels very validating for those of us who tend to feel bad for feeling bad, and the consideration that I have every right to feel as exhausted as I often do (regardless of any positives or things I "should" be "grateful for") just lightened my mood and weekend considerably--and made me more "present" to my son in our time together. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on May 14, 2023 by His Uselessness
    • Magnificent and thought provoking
Format: Hardcover
This is a book for anyone who wants to re-examine what they’ve been led to think about about how they manage, and even feel, about their emotions. Mariana Alessandri’s “Night Vision” does a masterful job of taking on the notion (promoted by a multi-billion self-help industry) that we have to always lean to positive thinking and that there’s no value in the “darkness.” She also demonstrates how this viewpoint can infiltrate our thinking and create a bias against other people. She weaves personal stories, interactions with her students, and the perspectives and wisdom of ancient philosophers to re-examine how we view our feelings, how we should handle them, and challenges the dogma that lifting out of the darkness is essential to a “normal” life. Alessandri is a philosopher by training, but through this book demonstrates she’s a keen observer of humanity and its struggles - sometimes against preconceived notions of how we are supposed to live. Highly recommend this book, and look forward to her next one. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on May 11, 2023 by JJC
    • A wonderful book exploring dark emotions
Format: Hardcover
What a beautifully written and sincere mediation on our dark moods and misconception surrounding them. I particularly enjoyed the chapter on anxiety and Kierkegaard's insights in that regard. You could just tell that the author truly felt what she was writing about. The books itself ia saturated with honest emotion. A masterpiece in my mind. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on February 13, 2025 by Hector
    • Night Vision, Collateral Damage
Format: Audiobook
Dr. Alessandri offers many perceptive insights into our relentlessly cheerful, happy-face culture, and her book is an engaging read. Yet she seems less attentive to the collateral damage that one’s depression, anger, and anxiety can inflict on children, families, and friends. For example, she examines Kierkegaard’s anxiety in rich philosophical detail but gives little weight to the suffering his decision caused when he left his longtime fiancée, Regine Olsen. Her pain is dispatched with a brief note that she eventually married someone else, as though the essential point were merely that she married, not whom she loved. One is left to wonder whether Kierkegaard bears any responsibility for the anguish his own anguish produced. In another episode, Alessandri describes a middle-aged stay-at-home mother who longs to return to the workforce yet feels paralyzed by depression, convinced that her age, gender, and résumé gap bar the way. Her husband and son offer sincere, practical help, but Alessandri suggests the truer form of support would be for them to join her in her darkness so they might understand her fully. The burden thus shifts from the sufferer to the family. Expecting others to transform themselves in response to one’s despair feels less like existential responsibility than a curious exemption from it. She further proposes that remaining in darkness may reveal the work the woman truly wants, though how vocational clarity emerges from the abyss is left unexplained. At times, Alessandri’s defense of anger, depression, and anxiety approaches an Ayn Rand–like devotion to the sovereignty of feeling, one that risks overlooking the emotional cost borne by others. Too often, the book seems to request understanding in only one direction: you must understand me, while I need not fully confront the pain my darkness may cause you. Yet a brave face is not always denial; sometimes it is generosity. It is striking, finally, that an existential philosopher calls so insistently for responsibility from others while offering comparatively little encouragement for the angry, the depressed, or the anxious to undertake the quieter, more difficult work of changing themselves. Alessandri is right that the endless rows of happy-face self-help books are not the answer, but I am not convinced that night vision is the answer either. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on February 17, 2026 by William M. Downs
    • Valuable new ways of seeing
Format: Hardcover
This book gave me new ways to see dark moods like anger, anxiety, and depression. Don’t be afraid of a book that tackles such heavy subjects because the writing is very relatable. You’ll be convinced by the end that these moods are part of what makes us human. Recommended for anyone who wants to raise their emotional intelligence (EQ) and learn about themselves, others, and philosophy along the way. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on May 31, 2023 by Lexi
    • amazing
Format: Kindle
Please please read. Even if you aren’t in total agreement as I am, maybe her words can help you see others more clearly. It’s so timely and poignant and kind and clarifying. I sincerely hope my loved ones will give it a read so the can perhaps see me more clearly.
Reviewed in the United States on March 17, 2024 by Mary Jo Monahan
    • We prevent growth if we just smile through the pain
Format: Paperback
Stop putting on that happy face! It’s time to feel your feelings. Toxic positivity is exactly that — toxic. It prevents the building of true community and relationships by hiding the most real part of ourselves. In Night Vision, Dr. Mariana Alessandri questions societal norms surrounding sadness and melancholy, asking that we consider learning to see our way through our dark moods, including sadness and anger, instead of treating them as obstacles to skirt around and quickly get past. As a society, we have an opportunity to normalize the discomfort of less-than-optimal feelings, both in public and private, within ourselves and in others. The idealization of “getting over it” and “putting on a happy face” exists primarily to reduce the discomfort of everyone around you, but not you yourself. How are you supposed to reduce your discomfort when you’re just expected to pretend it doesn’t exist? This line from the book review in the Wall Street Journal sums it up: “It's the darkness of melancholy that reveals truths.” We grow and evolve by living through and learning lessons through bad times, sadness, and anger. We prevent that growth if we avoid it altogether by (fake) smiling through the pain. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on January 17, 2026 by Pippie P
    • About time we're talking about this
Format: Audiobook
Helpful antidote to toxic positivity and CBT culture.
Reviewed in the United States on January 9, 2024 by josh

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