British Psychiatrist Quotes

R. D. Laing

Ben Goldacre

Henry Maudsley

W. Ross Ashby

James Crichton-Browne

Maurice Nicoll

Every isolated determinate dynamic system, obeying unchanging laws, will ultimately develop some sort of organisms that are adapted to their environments.

From this patient, and from others like her, I have learnt that seemingly epileptic reactions in adolescents can indicate the latter's capacity to step out of time. In such cases the apparent epileptic tendency disappears as the patient matures.

Arthur Guirdham

Everything you do consciously is preserved for you: everything you do mechanically, since you did not do it, is lost.

Our civilization represses not only "the instincts", not only sexuality, but any form of transcendence. Among one-dimensional men, it is not surprising that someone with an insistent experience of other dimensions, that he cannot entirely deny or forget, will run the risk either of being destroyed by the others, or of betraying what he knows.

The ceremonial and religious uses of psychedelics are much older than their recreational uses and abuses. For most of their history, they have been mysterious, dangerous substances and must be treated respectfully.

Science has authority not because of white coats or titles, but because of precision and transparency: you explain your theory, set out your evidence, and reference the studies that support your case.

The pain of grief is just as much a part of life as the joy of love; it is, perhaps, the price we pay for love, the cost of commitment.

Colin Murray Parkes

The healthier people are, the more they are willing to admit to their limitations and so the more open they are to the possibility of improvement.

Most people, in committing a suicidal act, are just as muddled as when they do anything important under emotional stress. Carefully planned acts of suicide are as rare as carefully planned acts of homicide.

If you want fame and fortune, invent a pill.

James Crichton-Browne

Over recent years, urbanisation, globalisation and the destruction of local cultures has led to a rise in the prevalence of mental illness in the developing world.

Iain McGilchrist

On earth there are assuredly other things great besides man, though none greater; and in man there are other things great besides mind, though none greater.