"Despair: Sickness or Sin? is a book likely to prove both timely and timeless. Bringle did not write with an eye to capitalizing upon the current discussions in our society of the many patterns of pain centering on a sense of personal emptiness or lack of self worth. Nonetheless, her astute analysis of despair has profound implications both for understanding and for treating eating disorders, substance abuse, sexual obsessiveness, and various types of withdrawing or compulsive behaviors. These features make hers a timely book in our present context."