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
If I can't feel, if I can't move, if I can't think, and I can't care, then what conceivable point is there in living?
Interpretation
This quote reflects the struggle for meaningful existence, emphasizing the importance of feeling, movement, thought, and care in life.
Kay Redfield Jamison's quote speaks to the fundamental human experience of needing to feel, move, think, and care in order to find meaning in life. It suggests that a life devoid of these essential elements is not truly living but merely existing, highlighting the importance of emotional engagement and mental activity as vital components of a fulfilling life.
In practice
During a mental health awareness event, this quote can be used to emphasize the importance of emotional well-being.
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.
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
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.
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. βThis is my last experiment,β wrote a young chemist in his suicide note. βIf there is any eternal torment worse than mine Iβll have to be shown.
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.
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.
Anyway the war is over so far as they are concerned. But to wait for dysentery is not much of a life either.
I take so little interest in my daily life, that I hardly remember to eat and drink.
My kid could get a bad X-ray and I could get a call from the doctor saying I have something growing in my bum and that would change my perspective on everything instantaneously, on what is and what is not important.
What a miracle life is and how alike are all souls when they send their roots down deep and meet and are one!
My life will be the best illustration of all my work.
pools of blood are not recreational even lifeguards drown when the undertow breaks bread with the underbelly demons disguised as sharks have not put enough thought into their costumes a wiseman stays ashore when pointed fins read like italian subtitles the end is near (...) the beginning
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