Never once, during any of my bouts of depression, had I been inclined or able to pick up a telephone and ask a friend for help. It wasn't in me.
Kay Redfield JamisonRead
Because I teach and write about depression and bipolar illness, I am often asked what is the most important factor in treating bipolar disorder. My answer is competence. Empathy is important, but competence is essential.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The key to treating bipolar disorder lies in having the necessary skills and knowledge, while empathy plays a supportive role.
In the context of treating bipolar disorder, Kay Redfield Jamison emphasizes that while empathy is valuable, the fundamental aspect that truly makes a difference in treatment is the professional's competence. This highlights the necessity for practitioners to possess the right expertise to effectively address complex mental health issues, suggesting that understanding and skill are paramount in providing treatment.
Themes
CompetenceEmpathyBipolar DisorderTreatmentMental Health
In practice
Example use cases
In a mental health seminar discussing treatment methodologies, this quote can highlight the importance of professional training.
More from Kay Redfield Jamison
All quotes →No pill can help me deal with the problem of not wanting to take pills; likewise, no amount of psychotherapy alone can prevent my manias and depressions. I need both. It is an odd thing, owing life to pills, one's own quirks and tenacities, and this unique, strange, and ultimately profound relationship called psychotherapy
Kay Redfield JamisonRead
Mood disorders are terribly painful illnesses, and they are isolating illnesses. And they make people feel terrible about themselves when, in fact, they can be treated.
Kay Redfield JamisonRead
When people are suicidal, their thinking is paralyzed, their options appear spare or nonexistent, their mood is despairing, and hopelessness permeates their entire mental domain. The future cannot be separated from the present, and the present is painful beyond solace. ‘This is my last experiment,’ wrote a young chemist in his suicide note. ‘If there is any eternal torment worse than mine I’ll have to be shown.
Kay Redfield JamisonRead
When public figures remain silent about depression, there is a cost to the rest of society. Silence contributes to the misperception that successful people do not get depressed, and it keeps the public from seeing that treatment allows many individuals to return to competitive professional lives.
Kay Redfield JamisonRead
I decided early in graduate school that I needed to do something about my moods. It quickly came down to a choice between seeing a psychiatrist or buying a horse. Since almost everyone I knew was seeing a psychiatrist, and since I had an absolute belief that I should be able to handle my own problems, I naturally bought a horse.
Kay Redfield JamisonRead
Similar quotes
Being infinitely patient means having an absolute knowing that you're in vibrational harmony with the all-creating force that intended you here. You know that everything will happen at just the right time, at just the right place, with just the right people.
Wayne DyerRead
There's a certain grace in accepting what your life is and embracing all the good things that have been - but there's still an expectation of good things to come. Not necessarily what you expected.
Emmylou HarrisRead
The biggest mistake a woman can make is not to be herself in public or private.
Diane Von FurstenbergRead
He who represents himself has a fool for a client
Abraham LincolnRead
Watch your thoughts, they become words. Watch your words, they become actions. Watch your actions, they become habit.
LaoziRead
In the measurement world, we set a goal and strive to achieve it. In the universe of possibility, we set the context and let life unfold.
Benjamin ZanderRead