He had learned long ago that, in general, the easier it was for anxious patients to reach him, the less likely they were to call. (107)
Irvin D. YalomRead
Psychiatry is a strange field because, unlike any other field of medicine, you never really finish. Your greatest instrument is you, yourself, and the work of self-understanding is endless. I'm still learning.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Psychiatry requires continuous self-reflection and learning from oneself.
In this quote, Irvin D. Yalom highlights the unique nature of psychiatry as a medical field where the practitioner's own understanding and personal growth are crucial to their effectiveness. Unlike other medical disciplines where a definitive mastery can be achieved, psychiatry thrives on the ongoing journey of self-discovery and learning, emphasizing the importance of the therapist's own introspection in helping others.
Themes
PsychiatrySelf-UnderstandingLearningGrowthIntrospection
In practice
Example use cases
In a lecture about mental health, to emphasize the importance of self-awareness in therapy.
More from Irvin D. Yalom
All quotes βA curious thought experiment. . . Nietzsche's message to us was to live life in such a way that we would be willing to repeat the same life eternally
Irvin D. YalomRead
A sense of life meaning ensues but cannot be deliberately pursued: life meaning is always a derivative phenomenon that materializes when we have transcended ourselves, when we have forgotten ourselves and become absorbed in someone (or something) outside ourselves
Irvin D. YalomRead
Marriage and its entourage of possession and jealousy enslave the spirit.
Irvin D. YalomRead
It is wrong to bear children out of need, wrong to use a child to alleviate loneliness, wrong to provide purpose in life by reproducing another copy of oneself. It is wrong also to seek immortality by spewing one's germ into the future as though sperm contains your consciousness!
Irvin D. YalomRead
Life is a spark between two identical voids, the darkness before birth and the one after death.
Irvin D. YalomRead
Similar quotes
The emotion of fear often works overtime. Even when there is no immediate threat, our body may remain tight and on guard, our mind narrowed to focus on what might go wrong. When this happens, fear is no longer functioning to secure our survival. We are caught in the trance of fear and our moment-to-moment experience becomes bound in reactivity. We spend our time and energy defending our life rather than living it fully.
Tara BrachRead
Accepting does not necessarily mean liking, enjoying, condoning. I can accept what is-and be determined to evolve from there. It is not acceptance but denial that leaves me stuck.
Nathaniel BrandenRead
I believe that reading and writing are the most nourishing forms of meditation anyone has so far found. By reading the writings of the most interesting minds in history, we meditate with our own minds and theirs as well. This to me is a miracle.
Kurt VonnegutRead
The masters of life know the way, for they listen to the voice within them, the voice of wisdom and simplicity, the voice that reasons beyond cleverness and knows beyond knowledge.
Benjamin HoffRead
I'm 80 years old, and I don't know what I'm going to be when I grow up.
Larry KingRead
I find as long as I acknowledge the truth of something, then that's it. I know what it is and then I can operate. But if I overestimate the downside of something or the challenge of something and I get too obsessed about the difficulty of it, then I don't leave enough room to be open to the upside, the possibility.
Michael J. FoxRead