Welcome to our collection of insightful and thought-provoking quotes by Dr. Drew Pinsky. Known for his expertise in medicine, addiction, and relationships, Dr. Drew has become a trusted voice in the realm of mental health and wellness. With years of experience as a practicing physician, addiction specialist, and media personality, his words carry weight and wisdom, offering valuable insights into various aspects of human behavior and psychology.
Throughout his career, Dr. Drew Pinsky has not only provided medical expertise but has also served as a compassionate advocate for those struggling with addiction and mental health issues. Whether through his radio shows, television appearances, or written works, he has consistently sought to educate and empower individuals to lead healthier, more fulfilling lives. His quotes encapsulate his deep understanding of human nature and offer guidance on navigating life’s challenges with resilience and courage.
Below, you’ll find a curated selection of Dr. Drew Pinsky’s quotes that inspire reflection, insight, and growth. Feel free to use these quotes to spark conversation, find motivation, or simply gain a new perspective on the complexities of the human experience. Remember, these words are not just meant to be read they are meant to be pondered, absorbed, and applied to your own journey of self-discovery and personal development.
For me, addiction exposes all of the brain mechanism under the influence of a profoundly distorted primary motivation. It’s such a window into how we function as human beings. And the patient doesn’t know that’s happening! Doesn’t believe that’s happening! That’s the fascinating part. Drew Pinsky
Millennials really don’t perceive hierarchies. They either don’t perceive them or don’t like them. Drew Pinsky
Many aspects of the George Zimmerman trial have deeply affected me. Drew Pinsky
I trust my recovering peers completely. I’ll occasionally look sideways at them because they’re addicts but it would break my heart and surprise me to find out that any of these people were lying. Still, addiction is cunning and baffling and you never know. Drew Pinsky
I’m a workaholic. Drew Pinsky
We are trying to learn from the consequences of one’s peers’ actions. Drew Pinsky
Back in the day, I was the first non-recovering doctor working in recovery. People would say, ‘You can’t do that! We need recovering guys in this.’ But usually recovering doctors have a lot of baggage and so there’s a certain amount of liability with a recovering doctor. But of course it can be ideal. Drew Pinsky
I’ve had people that I’ve given up on, kicked out – situations where I was becoming part of the problem because I was sort of enabling so I said, ‘Godspeed, farewell.’ And they’ve come back to me four years later and they’re in a CDAAC program or they’re getting a PhD. Drew Pinsky
What people have trouble getting their head around is the idea that a celebrity, somebody whom they admire, somebody who seems to have everything, would even be depressed. Drew Pinsky
The people and places that cause terror in childhood cause attraction in adulthood. We end up being repetitively attracted to the same kind of person that obliges us by acting out the same behavior over again. Drew Pinsky
In the late 90s I was hired to participate in a 2 year initiative discussing intimacy and depression which was funded by an educational grant by Glaxo Wellcome. Drew Pinsky
If you’re experiencing symptoms such as depression, anxiety, uncontrolled use of substances, or any other behaviors that affect your functioning, please see a professional. Drew Pinsky
All I treat at the hospital is trauma survivors. Drew Pinsky
In love addiction that experience of: ‘Oh my God, I’m in love… I feel whole, and I feel like I’ve known this person forever.’ That is a feeling that you have to have all the time. You become addicted to it. Drew Pinsky
We have a pandemic of childhood trauma. Drew Pinsky
Trauma survivors have a deficiency in their capacity to regulate emotions – they’re too prolonged and too intense and too negative. As a corollary to affect regulation, self-esteem, sense of self and inter-personal functioning all goes downhill. And that’s a chronic thing that’s solved in an-inter personal context. Drew Pinsky
I’m interested in interpersonal space. Drew Pinsky
If you have a history of being attracted to people who have failed you in relationships, find people that aren’t so exciting and aren’t quite so attractive. Try that on for size and see if you can tolerate that. Drew Pinsky
Patrick Melrose’ is a frantically accurate exploration of the addict mind tormented by trauma, magnificently brought to life by Benedict Cumberbatch. At its core, it is a story that has a timeless quality with echoes of Cervantes. Drew Pinsky
The Internet is a seemingly unreal environment where we think we are anonymous. It’s a potentially provocative place. As a result, we may not behave the way we would in the real world. Some of us are drawn into what could become a dangerous situation. Drew Pinsky
Thank God I’m a horrible musician. Good singer, horrible musician. Drew Pinsky
I tell everybody, no one understands how challenging and stressful practicing medicine is. Drew Pinsky
The road to sobriety is not easy and rehabilitation and the recovery process are not to be taken lightly. Drew Pinsky
Narcissism is not about self love. It’s a clinical trait that belies a deep sense of emptiness, low self-esteem, emotional detachment, self-loathing, extreme problems with intimacy. Drew Pinsky
Childhood trauma is the rocket fuel for addictive pathology, and this fundamental truth is laid bare in ‘Patrick Melrose.’ Drew Pinsky
I tell women to stop learning how to keep a man and make him happy, and to try figuring out what they want from a relationship, to trust their own instincts and not worry about pleasing someone else. Drew Pinsky
I do not know Rep. Weiner. But I do know he seems to have the features of a narcissist. Narcissists feel empty. Narcissists feel invincible. But their emotional landscape is barren. Drew Pinsky
The problem with my peers is they don’t understand television. You have to work within the confines of what executives will allow you to put on TV. Otherwise, we’ve not done anything, we’ve not really struggled to change the culture at all. Drew Pinsky
People who have had severe childhood traumas lack the ability to regulate emotions and, as a result, gravitate toward whatever primitive means they can come up with. Drew Pinsky
I, myself, have not infrequently come across recovering addicts years later that I had given up on. It is like seeing a ghost come to life. The transformations can be astonishing. Drew Pinsky
In terms of establishing a connection between a therapist and a patient, that work needs to be done in person. Drew Pinsky
From a health standpoint, I have metabolic syndrome, I have high triglycerides, low HDL, body fat centrally located, high blood pressure. Running really helps control my weight and that problem a lot. So if I am not running three days a week, I really miss it. Drew Pinsky
People think you go to doctors for their knowledge. You don’t go to doctors for their knowledge. You go to doctors for their judgment, their instinct, what to do, how to make the right call. Drew Pinsky
Particularly women need to pay attention to what is unique to their own personal biology and emotional systems, and not deny it. Drew Pinsky
My goal was always to be part of pop culture and relevant to young people, to interact with the people they hold in high esteem. Drew Pinsky
The way people get hooked on fame… it can behave very much like an addiction. Drew Pinsky
I tell young people all the time, and now I’m telling anyone, no matter what your age: You can’t take back the stuff you put out there on Twitter and Facebook, even e-mails. Drew Pinsky
Medicine saved my life, quite literally. I woke up every day of my training thinking, ‘I love doing this,’ feeling like it was so important what I was doing. Drew Pinsky
What motivates most people to change their behavior is consequences. No consequences? No behavior modification. Drew Pinsky
I was doing general medicine and during residency, I moonlighted at a psychiatric hospital and became very interested in the medical care of psychiatric patients. Drew Pinsky
A little whiff of a mental health issue never hurt anybody. Drew Pinsky
When I started out, no one would talk to young people about HIV or AIDS. I looked around and radio looked like a powerful way to shape culture in a healthy way. Drew Pinsky
Just like everybody else, celebrities have brains and those brains get conditions – addiction, depression. Drew Pinsky
You don’t have to have a physical relationship with someone other than your spouse or significant other to betray him or her. Drew Pinsky
An Internet ‘relationship’ doesn’t have to be catastrophically harmful to be inappropriate. Hurtful is bad enough. Drew Pinsky
We want to blame people who have brain disorders – they should somehow be able to magically rise above it. It’s a profound misconception. Drew Pinsky
Humans need intimacy. We’ve destroyed it in our country. Drew Pinsky
Ages 18 to 22 is such a hard transition, everyone’s depressed. Drew Pinsky
I suppose I’m a healthier role model than, say, Slash of Guns N’ Roses. Drew Pinsky
People determine the laws. But I do wish they would pass laws that enhance health, not jeopardize it. Drew Pinsky
Brains affect brains through far more means than words and listening. Drew Pinsky
We can all make better decisions when we’re informed. Drew Pinsky
Nothing demonstrates a celebrity’s basic drive for attention more powerfully than a willingness to check one’s dignity at the door, week after week, in front of millions of viewers. Drew Pinsky
It used to be radio was the place that young people gathered to get their information. Drew Pinsky
I love running in Central Park. Drew Pinsky
Romeo and Juliet’ is two love addicts acting out, and look how that ended. Drew Pinsky
When I run on the treadmill, I read. But I have found that the only way to read while on the treadmill is to hold the book, since it moves around too much on the stand, you move around too much. I’ve gotten very good at holding a book and running, which tends to screw up my neck a little bit. Drew Pinsky
I’m deeply involved in big problems. Drew Pinsky
You should hear all the people talking to me about Heath Ledger, and yet I’m the only person shooting his mouth off out there about what everyone actually already knows. Drew Pinsky
I won’t do any print interviews anymore. No matter what I say, it gets distorted. Drew Pinsky
Childhood trauma is really what puts the rocket fuel behind addiction. Drew Pinsky
Students have tons of health and intimacy and relationship questions, and no one’s listening to them. Drew Pinsky
Symptoms that may seem psychiatric or psychological can actually be signs of a medical condition. Drew Pinsky
I rescue people. Drew Pinsky
In medicine you go from dying to chronically ill. You don’t go from dying to better than you ever knew you could be. That just doesn’t happen. Drew Pinsky
I’ve been busily lifting weights since I was 14, but in college I started running as a way to reduce stress, as I recall. Drew Pinsky
I’m too busy to block everyone on Twitter. Drew Pinsky
Addiction has a worse prognosis than most cancers. I tell someone they have cancer and they want to be airlifted to a cancer treatment center; I tell someone they have an addiction and they’re going to die and they want to argue with me about the treatment. Drew Pinsky
What people think when they see me on TV is that they’re experiencing me but they’re not. Drew Pinsky
The history of the office of First Lady had not been kind to those with mental health issues. Drew Pinsky
If you don’t want the world to see something you’re sending, stop and think before you put it out there. Drew Pinsky
Here’s the acid test for appropriateness: Pretend that someone near and dear to you is witnessing what you are writing or sending, or knows what you are thinking about sending. If, say, your partner saw this behavior, how would he or she feel? That you are asking yourself this question could mean that you shouldn’t be doing it! Drew Pinsky
I have no agenda. Drew Pinsky
An intervention is much more than telling someone they have a problem in a unified fashion; treatment options should be in place. Drew Pinsky
I’m an internist by training. Drew Pinsky
There are different techniques – some interventionists are really loving, others are very tough. Drew Pinsky
As a clinician, I would never want to be coercive in relation to a patient, nor do I harbor the illusion that as a physician I am capable of forcing someone to change their behavior, no matter how detrimental to their health. Drew Pinsky
Narcissism is the result of longstanding behavioral patterns that reflect fixed brain functioning. It requires a lot of motivation to change these patterns. Drew Pinsky
Trauma super charges addiction and makes it really bad. It doesn’t necessarily cause it, though it can trigger it. It’s not necessarily the issue but if you have bad addiction, it’s there. Drew Pinsky
Women are upset if their partner has an intimate conversation of any kind with someone who isn’t them. They consider it a violation, a betrayal. Men should think this way, but they don’t. Drew Pinsky
If someone wants to offer me some money to talk about something that I feel strongly about on Twitter – and I don’t feel it’s diminishing in any way my messages – I don’t see why not. Drew Pinsky
Remember, you’re not always the professional. Drew Pinsky
When you get your viral load down to zero, you reduce the risk of transmission of HIV by 90 percent. Drew Pinsky
People have sort of been swirling around me, going, ‘Oh, you should run for mayor.’ Well I didn’t really want that job. ‘Well, you should run for governor.’ Well, that’s not really possible. Drew Pinsky
I have a pretty keen ethical compass. Drew Pinsky
Families that have addicted members learn to operate with secrecy. Drew Pinsky
It’s so self-evident that I have to live my own history, to remind people the fact that I got into radio back in the early ’80s was because of AIDS and HIV. It was what motivated me – that was the topic that I felt was so important that I had to talk about it, educating young people about it. Drew Pinsky
All medicine is gradations and differences and nuances. And there’s such a thing as natural recovery: people spontaneously get better. It happens. Drew Pinsky
Addiction is not a curable condition. Drew Pinsky
Crying is scary to men! To us, it’s a sign that something completely earth-shattering is happening. Drew Pinsky
I don’t want people to think I’m exploiting my followers. Drew Pinsky
I love everything about the human experience. Drew Pinsky
People now know of the word intervention and think they understand what it means, but more often than not they go about intervening the wrong way. I see people staging things on their own. But discussing the nature of somebody’s condition over breakfast isn’t an intervention. Drew Pinsky
Big people take care of little people; we must live up to that trust. Drew Pinsky
Guys are much happier when someone puts a limit on their behavior and causes them to make a real connection with another person. Drew Pinsky
I always hate taking categorical positions. Drew Pinsky
If people fit together, they fit for a reason. It’s usually the sickest part of one person fitting into the attraction of the sickest part of another. Drew Pinsky
Secrets keep addicts ill and cost lives. Drew Pinsky
The term ‘doctor’ has been so abused lately! I didn’t live in a hospital for 10 years so that term could be bastardized. Drew Pinsky
Treatment of alcohol addiction can take many forms. Drew Pinsky