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
I had been simply treating water, settling on surviving and avoiding pain rather than being actively involved in seeking out life.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the importance of actively engaging in life rather than just enduring it.
Kay Redfield Jamison reflects on the idea that merely surviving and avoiding discomfort is not a fulfilling way to live. She suggests that one should seek to embrace life actively, pursuing experiences and joy instead of just settling for a state of existence that avoids pain.
Themes
LifeSurvivalEngagementPainExperience
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational speech about personal development.
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
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.
Kay Redfield JamisonRead
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