The question of a profound patient: What does the psychiatrist know about humans? inspired this overview of many fundamental themes in psychiatry that are rarely addressed in standard textbooks: the concept of humanity, the psyche-soma relationship, personhood, biography, meaning, logos and myth, religion, spirituality, and mysticism. Psychopathology provides insight into the workshop of the soul, differentiating between being ill, illness, and norms. Symptoms serve as signposts for therapy. First-person narratives deepen our understanding of what psycho-physical illness signifies as a necessary experience of the loss of the self/identity and the orientation towards the shared reality of humanity.