Melancholy is that state of mood where the soul waits between a spiritual dawn that never comes and a dusk that never ends... For most people, of course, melancholy is synonymous with depression. However, since ancient times, it has been distinguished as the disease of philosophers, poets, and broadly creative individuals. Why does this happen? Why does sadness become a cause for internal searching and existential questioning?
Psychologist and author George Ioannidis conducts an overview of the extremely rich history of melancholy - from the era of Empedocles and Plato to the symbols of Alchemy and from Mythology to modern philosophers and Psychoanalysis - highlighting how the night of melancholy is not without light, as at its core, even in a latent state, there exists that archetypal dynamic capable of transforming lament into a zest for life and self-awareness.

At the same time, other significant issues are developed, such as those of happiness, the meaning of life, the importance of forgiveness, as well as the role of Love in the realization of self-transcendence - from the Ego that suffers (and is unhappy) to the Self that actively participates in life (and is happy).