Irving Kirsch quotes

Depression is not caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain, and it is not cured by medication. Depression may not even be an illness at all. Often, it can be a normal reaction to abnormal situations. Poverty, unemployment, and the loss of loved ones can make people depressed, and these social and situational causes of depression cannot be changed by drugs.
-- Irving Kirsch

#Loss #People #Drug

Depression is a serious problem, but drugs are not the answer. In the long run, psychotherapy is both cheaper and more effective, even for very serious levels of depression. Physical exercise and self-help books based on CBT can also be useful, either alone or in combination with therapy. Reducing social and economic inequality would also reduce the incidence of depression.
-- Irving Kirsch

#Running #Book #Exercise

Psychotherapy works, and some types of therapy have been shown to be much more effective than antidepressants over the long run.
-- Irving Kirsch

#Running #Long #Type

Anything that instills a sense of hope will at least temporarily help treat depression.
-- Irving Kirsch

#Helping #Treats

The doctor-patient relationship is critical to the placebo effect.
-- Irving Kirsch

#Doctors #Patient #Placebo

There are a variety of techniques to help people change the kind of thinking that leads them to become depressed. These techniques are called cognitive behavioral therapy.
-- Irving Kirsch

#Thinking #People #Technique

I do a lot of research on the placebo effect, not just in depression but in irritable bowel syndrome, pain, arthritis of the knee, migraine, asthma.
-- Irving Kirsch

#Pain #Research #Knees

Depression comes back over time in about 90 percent of people on antidepressants. Studies show that relapses are far less common when people are treated with psychotherapy.
-- Irving Kirsch

#People #Common #Study

Antidepressants can have troubling side effects and are addictive for some people.
-- Irving Kirsch

#People #Sides #Side Effects

The loss of illusions and the discovery of identity, though painful at first, can be ultimately exhilarating and strengthening.

Someday, I have no doubt, the dead from today's wars will be seen with a similar sense of sorrow at needless loss and folly as those millions of men who lie in the cemeteries of France and Belgium - and tens of millions of Americans will feel a similar revulsion for the politicians and generals who were so spendthrift with others' lives.

There's the South Pole, said Christopher Robin, and I expect there's an East Pole and a West Pole, though people don't like talking about them.

The question of boundaries is a major question of the Jewish people because the Jews are the great experts of crossing boundaries. They have a sense of identity inside themselves that doesn't permit them to cross boundaries with other people.

My goal has been to encourage jointness, to push people to think of affiliations rather than to operate as solo entrepreneurs.

Find a need and fill it. Successful businesses are founded on the needs of people.

I despise people who depend on these things [heroin and cocaine]. If you really want a mind-altering experience, look at a tree.

Avoid all needle drugs, the only dope worth shooting is Richard Nixon.

Drugs ruin peoples lives, break up families and have disastrous effects on our communities.

And then you have the responsibility and the duty of being good examples to youngsters, not smoke, training hard, go to bed early, don't drink alcohol, don't take drugs, it's very important to have a policy for educating against doping.