Featuring many examples from Walt Odets' own work as a therapist, Out of the Shadows, is a great resource for therapeutic practitioners as well as the general reader. Looking at issues like coming out, bullying, the HIV/AIDS epidemic, Odets offers hope and reassurance to his clients and inspiration to readers.

Knowing one's history can definitely do so much to aid one's own understanding of one’s own self; seeing the whole historical pathway laid out by Odets could definitely be empowering to individuals by enabling them to better react and eventually find their place in modern times.