--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: A mental healer may be a psychiatrist. A…" description: "\"A mental healer may be a psychiatrist. A psychiatrist may or may not be a mental healer.\" — R. D. Laing" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/63f/r-d-laing-4861_healer_a-mental-healer-may-be-a-psychiatrist-a_2108277.jpg" --- # A mental healer may be a psychiatrist. A psychiatrist may… ![“A mental healer may be a psychiatrist. A psychiatrist may or may not be a mental healer.” quote by R. D. Laing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/63f/r-d-laing-4861_healer_a-mental-healer-may-be-a-psychiatrist-a_2108277.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/63f/r-d-laing-4861_healer_a-mental-healer-may-be-a-psychiatrist-a_2108277.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/63f/r-d-laing-4861_healer_a-mental-healer-may-be-a-psychiatrist-a_2108277.jpg) > “A mental healer may be a psychiatrist. A psychiatrist may or may not be a mental healer.” [R. D. Laing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-d-laing/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Psychiatry and healing are not synonymous; mental health care can be both clinical and therapeutic. **In simple terms:** Not all psychiatrists heal; healing can come elsewhere. Key Takeaway Recognize multiple paths to mental health. Themes mental health psychiatry healing identity Mood thoughtful critical Type philosophical psychological When to use this quote - therapy sessions - support groups - self‑help practices - holistic health Key Concepts existential therapy patient agency clinical practice Questions to Reflect On - What defines a true mental healer? - How can patients seek healing beyond medication? A Different Perspective Medical models may overlook personal experience. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Healer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/healer/) [Illness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/illness/) [Psychiatrist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/psychiatrist/) [Psychology](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/psychology/) ## Related quotes > [Working with the psychiatrist and then a mental health counselor helped me understand my own thought distortions.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leana-s-wen/working-with-the-psychiatrist-and-then-a-mental-health-counselor/) [Leana S. Wen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leana-s-wen/) > [A psychiatrist who professes to be a healer of souls, but who keeps people asleep, treats them for waking up, and drugs them asleep…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-d-laing/a-psychiatrist-who-professes-to-be-a-healer-of-souls-but-who-keeps/) [R. D. Laing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-d-laing/) > [Schizophrenia is the name for a condition that most psychiatrists ascribe to patients they call schizophrenic.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-d-laing/schizophrenia-is-the-name-for-a-condition-that-most-psychiatrists/) [R. D. Laing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-d-laing/) > [Negative thoughts were treated by Cherokee healers with the same medicines as wounds, headaches, or physical illness. It was believed that unchecked negative thoughts…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wilma-mankiller/negative-thoughts-were-treated-by-cherokee-healers-with-the-same/) [Wilma Mankiller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wilma-mankiller/) > [ In Our Underachieving Colleges, \[Derek\] Bok acts as both diagnostician and healer, wielding social-science statistics and professional studies to trace the etiology of today's… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donald-kagan/in-our-underachieving-colleges-derek-bok-acts-as-both-diagnostician/) [Donald Kagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donald-kagan/) > [What do you do when you don't know what to do? No wonder there are more suicides among psychiatrists than in any other profession.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-d-laing/what-do-you-do-when-you-don-t-know-what-to-do-no-wonder-there-are/) [R. D. Laing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-d-laing/) > [The psychiatrist must become a fellow traveler with his patient.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-d-laing/the-psychiatrist-must-become-a-fellow-traveler-with-his-patient/) [R. D. Laing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-d-laing/) > [My father was a psychiatrist, the medical director of a mental hospital in Scotland, and when I was a student, I took vacation jobs…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/morag-joss/my-father-was-a-psychiatrist-the-medical-director-of-a-mental/) [Morag Joss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/morag-joss/) > [Just look at the list of who the lowest-paid people are. Pediatricians are at the bottom. You would also look at internists. You would…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/atul-gawande/just-look-at-the-list-of-who-the-lowest-paid-people-are-pediatricians/) [Atul Gawande](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/atul-gawande/) > [Psychiatrists say that 1 of 4 people are mentally ill. Check 3 friends. If they are okay, you're it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henny-youngman/psychiatrists-say-that-1-of-4-people-are-mentally-ill-check-3-friends/) [Henny Youngman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henny-youngman/) > [I am convinced that nine out of every ten persons seeing a psychiatrist do not need one. They need someone who will love them…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-tournier/i-am-convinced-that-nine-out-of-every-ten-persons-seeing-a/) [Paul Tournier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-tournier/) > [Psychiatrist are like mind hookers. Give them 200 dollars and they just screw with your head.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-titus/psychiatrist-are-like-mind-hookers-give-them-200-dollars-and-they/) [Christopher Titus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-titus/) > [When healers yearn to kill then hope begins to die ... Evil cannot be overcome by evil.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-gemmell/when-healers-yearn-to-kill-then-hope-begins-to-die-evil-cannot-be/) [David Gemmell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-gemmell/) > [We are not the healers, we are not the reconcilers, we are not the givers of life. We are sinful, broken, vulnerable people who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henri-nouwen/we-are-not-the-healers-we-are-not-the-reconcilers-we-are-not-the/) [Henri Nouwen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henri-nouwen/) > [One of his students asked Buddha, "Are you the Messiah?" "No," answered Buddha. "Then are you a healer?" "No," Buddha replied. "Then are you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gautama-buddha/one-of-his-students-asked-buddha-are-you-the-messiah-no-answered/) [Gautama Buddha](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gautama-buddha/) ## More by R. D. Laing > [To live in the past or in the future may be less satisfying than to live in the present, but it can never be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-d-laing/to-live-in-the-past-or-in-the-future-may-be-less-satisfying-than-to/) [R. D. Laing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-d-laing/) > [We must remember that we are living in an age in which the ground is shifting and the foundations are shaking. I cannot answer…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-d-laing/we-must-remember-that-we-are-living-in-an-age-in-which-the-ground-is/) [R. D. Laing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-d-laing/) > [We live in a moment of history where change is so speeded up that we begin to see the present only when it is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-d-laing/we-live-in-a-moment-of-history-where-change-is-so-speeded-up-that-we/) [R. D. Laing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-d-laing/) > [Our behavior is a function of our experience. We act according to the way we see things. If our experience is destroyed, our behavior…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-d-laing/our-behavior-is-a-function-of-our-experience-we-act-according-to-the/) [R. D. Laing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-d-laing/) > [How do we define, how do we describe, how do we explain and/or understand ourselves? What sort of creatures do we take ourselves to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-d-laing/how-do-we-define-how-do-we-describe-how-do-we-explain-and-or/) [R. D. Laing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-d-laing/) > [There is a great deal of pain in life and perhaps the only pain that can be avoided is the pain that comes from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-d-laing/there-is-a-great-deal-of-pain-in-life-and-perhaps-the-only-pain-that/) [R. D. Laing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-d-laing/) > [The range of what we think and do is limited by what we fail to notice. And because we fail to notice that we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-d-laing/the-range-of-what-we-think-and-do-is-limited-by-what-we-fail-to/) [R. D. Laing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-d-laing/) > [The range of what we think and do is limited by what we fail to notice.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-d-laing/the-range-of-what-we-think-and-do-is-limited-by-what-we-fail-to-notice/) [R. D. Laing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-d-laing/) > [In the society of men the truth resides now less in what things are than in what they are not. Our social realities are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-d-laing/in-the-society-of-men-the-truth-resides-now-less-in-what-things-are/) [R. D. Laing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-d-laing/) > [The schizophrenic may indeed be mad. He is mad. He is not ill. I have been told by people who have been through the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-d-laing/the-schizophrenic-may-indeed-be-mad-he-is-mad-he-is-not-ill-i-have/) [R. D. Laing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-d-laing/) > [What is to be done? We who are still half alive, living in the often fibrillating heartland of a senescent capitalism -- can we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-d-laing/what-is-to-be-done-we-who-are-still-half-alive-living-in-the-often/) [R. D. Laing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-d-laing/) > [From the alienated starting point of our pseudo-sanity, everything is equivocal. Our sanity is not "true" sanity. Their madness is not "true" madness. The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-d-laing/from-the-alienated-starting-point-of-our-pseudo-sanity-everything-is/) [R. D. Laing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-d-laing/) > [In describing one way of going mad, I shall try to show that there is a comprehensible transition from the sane schizoid way of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-d-laing/in-describing-one-way-of-going-mad-i-shall-try-to-show-that-there-is/) [R. D. Laing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-d-laing/) > [Doctors have throughout time made fortunes on killing their patients with their cures. The difference in psychiatry is that it is the death of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-d-laing/doctors-have-throughout-time-made-fortunes-on-killing-their-patients/) [R. D. Laing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-d-laing/) > [A psychiatrist who professes to be a healer of souls, but who keeps people asleep, treats them for waking up, and drugs them asleep…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-d-laing/a-psychiatrist-who-professes-to-be-a-healer-of-souls-but-who-keeps/) [R. D. Laing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-d-laing/) [Explore all 105 R. D. Laing quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-d-laing/) ## More Healer quotes > [One of his students asked Buddha, "Are you the Messiah?" "No," answered Buddha. "Then are you a healer?" "No," Buddha replied. "Then are you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gautama-buddha/one-of-his-students-asked-buddha-are-you-the-messiah-no-answered/) [Gautama Buddha](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gautama-buddha/) > [We are not the healers, we are not the reconcilers, we are not the givers of life. We are sinful, broken, vulnerable people who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henri-nouwen/we-are-not-the-healers-we-are-not-the-reconcilers-we-are-not-the/) [Henri Nouwen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henri-nouwen/) > [When healers yearn to kill then hope begins to die ... Evil cannot be overcome by evil.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-gemmell/when-healers-yearn-to-kill-then-hope-begins-to-die-evil-cannot-be/) [David Gemmell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-gemmell/) > [ “\[...\] the kind of healer who knows that sometimes one must inflict terrible agony - rebreak a bone, carve off a limb, kill the… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/n-k-jemisin/the-kind-of-healer-who-knows-that-sometimes-one-must-inflict-terrible/) [N.K. Jemisin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/n-k-jemisin/) > [But somehow in identifying myself as the healer, there was still a seed of both self-righteousness and defense from a kind of emptiness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gangaji/but-somehow-in-identifying-myself-as-the-healer-there-was-still-a/) [Gangaji](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gangaji/) > [“This hardly needs to be stated, but if a faith healer tries to “heal” an autistic person, the implied message is that the “healer”…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-d-taylor/this-hardly-needs-to-be-stated-but-if-a-faith-healer-tries-to-heal-an/) [Thomas D. Taylor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-d-taylor/) > [My mother says healers are born, not made.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/suzanne-collins/my-mother-says-healers-are-born-not-made/) [Suzanne Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/suzanne-collins/) > [Folks who are alive today need to wake up and do what they can to stop abusing the planet, and find ways to preserve…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alex-grey/folks-who-are-alive-today-need-to-wake-up-and-do-what-they-can-to/) [Alex Grey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alex-grey/) > [“See the healer, Sage. We have a big week ahead of us, and I can’t afford you falling dead on me.” “I don’t think…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-nicole-maehrer/see-the-healer-sage-we-have-a-big-week-ahead-of-us-and-i-can-t-afford/) Hannah Nicole Maehrer > [Negative thoughts were treated by Cherokee healers with the same medicines as wounds, headaches, or physical illness. It was believed that unchecked negative thoughts…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wilma-mankiller/negative-thoughts-were-treated-by-cherokee-healers-with-the-same/) [Wilma Mankiller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wilma-mankiller/) > [“Now, more than ever, our society is in need of sensitive and empathic people. Now, more than ever, the human race needs to go…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aletheia-luna/now-more-than-ever-our-society-is-in-need-of-sensitive-and-empathic/) [Aletheia Luna](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aletheia-luna/) > [I can begin to give God attributes. He's a counselor. He's a healer. He's a friend that sits closer than a brother. To me,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paula-white/i-can-begin-to-give-god-attributes-he-s-a-counselor-he-s-a-healer-he/) [Paula White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paula-white/) > [What a doctor or healer tells you is a reflection of the beliefs and expectations you hold. Change your beliefs and you change the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-cohen/what-a-doctor-or-healer-tells-you-is-a-reflection-of-the-beliefs-and/) [Alan Cohen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-cohen/) > [“Healer Myrim made no attempt to conceal the fact that Orthallen's treachery had not surprised her. Nor did she conceal that his demise gave…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mercedes-lackey/healer-myrim-made-no-attempt-to-conceal-the-fact-that-orthallen-s/) [Mercedes Lackey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mercedes-lackey/) > [Be guided, only by the healer of the sick, the raiser of the dead, the friend of all who were afflicted and forlorn, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-dickens/be-guided-only-by-the-healer-of-the-sick-the-raiser-of-the-dead-the/) [Charles Dickens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-dickens/) [Browse all 274 Healer quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/healer/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "A mental healer may be a psychiatrist. A psychiatrist may or may not be a mental healer.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "R. D. 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