Friendship is a wildly underrated medication.

"Friendship is a wildly underrated medication." Thus spoke Anna Deavere Smith, the playwright and seeker of human truth, whose words unveil a simple but often forgotten healing power: that of the heart bound to another heart. In this age of remedies and prescriptions, where people look to bottles and devices to soothe their pain, she reminds us that there exists a cure as ancient as humankind itself — friendship, the medicine that flows not from the hands of physicians, but from the open soul of one human being to another.

The ancients understood this truth well. Long before the science of medicine had tamed the body, the art of companionship had already begun to heal the spirit. A weary heart lightened by laughter, a mind comforted by understanding — these were cures that no apothecary could sell. The philosopher Aristotle once said that friendship is “a single soul dwelling in two bodies.” To share one’s burden with another is to divide its weight; to share one’s joy is to multiply it. Such is the mysterious alchemy of friendship — it does not erase suffering, but it transforms it, turning anguish into strength, loneliness into peace.

In times of sorrow, the healing touch of a friend can work miracles that no physician can prescribe. Consider the story of Helen Keller and her teacher and companion, Anne Sullivan. Born into darkness and silence, Helen’s world was one of isolation, until Anne entered it with patience and love. Through touch and persistence, Anne gave her not only knowledge, but connection — the assurance that she was not alone. From that bond, Helen’s spirit awoke, her mind expanded, and her life bloomed. No medicine could have achieved what friendship did. Indeed, it was the “wildly underrated medication” that restored to Helen not sight or hearing, but something far more precious: the ability to feel understood and alive.

Anna Deavere Smith, who has listened to countless voices through her work, speaks with the wisdom of one who has seen the wounds of division and the balm of understanding. In her quote, she calls us to remember that friendship heals not only the individual, but the world. It is a force that bridges differences, dissolves suspicion, and renews faith in humanity. When people reach across lines of race, class, and belief, they perform an act of medicine for the soul of civilization itself. The world is sick not only from disease, but from loneliness — and the remedy lies in the courage to connect.

But friendship, like any cure, must be cultivated with care. Its potency lies in sincerity, patience, and attention. A friendship neglected becomes stale; a friendship feigned becomes poison. The healing power of friendship arises not from words alone, but from presence — the quiet willingness to listen, to sit beside someone in their silence, to laugh with them when laughter returns. The wise have always known this truth: that the heart’s deepest wounds cannot be stitched by solitude, but only by the thread of shared humanity.

Even in the realm of science, this ancient wisdom has found proof. Modern healers and scholars speak now of the body’s response to love — how companionship strengthens the heart, eases the mind, and even lengthens life. It seems that the ancients were right all along: that friendship, freely given and faithfully tended, is indeed a medicine — one that restores balance to both the body and the soul.

Lesson: Seek not only doctors for your pain, but friends for your spirit. For friendship is the quiet physician of the heart, the gentle hand that steadies the trembling mind. Where there is trust, laughter, and loyalty, the soul grows whole again.

Practical action: Nurture the friendships you have as though they were sacred fires. Call the friend you have neglected. Listen more than you speak. Offer your time, your laughter, and your understanding freely. For in giving friendship, you become both healer and healed. As Anna Deavere Smith teaches, the simplest gestures of human kindness can be the greatest medicine of all — the ancient remedy that no age or science can ever surpass.