Psychiatrist: Surrounding yourself with supportive people is vital for mental health

Across decades of clinical practice, psychiatrist Javier Quintero has arrived at a truth both ancient and underappreciated: the company we keep is not incidental to our wellbeing — it is constitutive of it. The relationships we allow to take root in our lives shape not only our daily emotional weather, but the deeper soil of self-perception and identity. In a culture that treats busyness and broad social connection as virtues, Quintero offers a quieter counsel — that discernment, not abundance, is the measure of a life well-surrounded.