Recognition is to the psyche what nourishment is to the body. It's identity food. The sentient gaze of another human being confirms our very sense of being. That's why solitary confinement is torture. When I see you seeing me, I feel that I exist. When I see you seeing me see you, we exist. Without a "magic glass" to mirror us back to ourselves, we lose our sense of being human.
— Robert W. Fuller, Somebodies and Nobodies