#psych

Her parents, she said, has put a pinball machine inside her head when she was five years old. The red balls told her when she should laugh, the blue ones when she should be silent and keep away from other people; the green balls told her that she should start multiplying by three. Every few days a silver ball would make its way through the pins of the machine. At this point her head turned and she stared at me; I assumed she was checking to see if I was still listening. I was, of course. How could one not? The whole thing was bizarre but riveting. I asked her, What does the silver ball mean? She looked at me intently, and then everything went dead in her eyes. She stared off into space, caught up in some internal world. I never found out what the silver ball meant. ↗

— Kay Redfield Jamison

#bipolar-disorder #depression #mania #manic #manic-depression

A psychiatrist is the God of our age. But they cost money. ↗

— Sylvia Plath

#psychiatry #psychology #spirituality #age

You can't doubt so much, Psyche ↗

— Francesca Lia Block

#mythology #psyche-in-a-dress #young-adult #mythology

You can never be free of their criticism until you no longer seek their praise. ↗

— Dennis Ruane

#psychological #suspense #suspense

Everybody sins, Francis. The terrible thing is that we love our sins. We love the thing that makes us evil. ↗

— Robert Cormier

#heroes #humanity #love #psychology #robert-cormier

It wasn't a sign of weakness to tell what happened to me. I feel guilt no longer, only regret. The other emotions are coming around too. How much further do I need to go? I'm not sure, but there is comfort in the fact that I am in the hands of expert guides, both in the doctor's office and at home with Sue. ↗

— Charles L. Bailey Jr.

#guilt #healing #journey #onion #painful

The human race is a monotonous affair. Most people spend the greatest part of their time working in order to live, and what little freedom remains so fills them with fear that they seek out any and every means to be rid of it. ↗

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

#freedom #meaning-of-life #psychology #purpose-of-life #work

he wanted to do, to be, to feel- and could not; he wanted sense, he wanted purpose- in Freud's words, 'Work and Love'. ↗

— Oliver Sacks

#love

Women never bought Freud's idea of penis envy: who would want a shotgun when you can have an automatic? ↗

— Natalie Angier

#humor #psychology #humor

I say, thirteen is too many dogs for good mental health. Five is pretty much the limit. More than five dogs and you forfeit your right to call yourself entirely sane. Even if the dogs are small. ↗

— E. Lockhart

#humor #psychotherapy #sanity #humor