Rating: 
Summary: So Clear
Review: Several items are clearly outlines within this awe inspiring,truth telling book. That is-abuse comes in many forms. Whether it is abuse at your own hands or that of someone elses. I also learned from reading this memoir and several others such as Nightmares Echo,Beauty For Ashes and Sickened...that illnesses such as this can be brought on by the terrors that children live with early in life. I applaud this author for speaking clearly and concisely...for letting us in to the thoughts that run through the mind. Also for making us more aware.
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic!!
Review: This book is fantastic! What impresses me most is that Jamison fits so much information into such a short book without overwhleming the reader. I read somewhere that this is meant to be the layperson's guide to biploar. That is definitely is. I found this book information, interesting and inspring. A must read for anyone interested in the mental health arena or anyone looking for a good biography about a strong woman.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting, but not great
Review: Like some of the other reviews have stated, the author's privileged situation seemed to limit rather than enhance her ability to thoughtfully examine the topic. I liked the fact that there were medical details as well as descriptions of her relationships and emotions, but they didn't really come together very well. I think I've been spoiled by reading Lauren Slater, who brilliantly and seamlessly writes about her experiences with mental illness.Having said that, I would definitely read another book by Kay Jamison. She has a lot to offer, and I appreciated her sharing her story.
Rating:
Summary: A Great Love Story
Review: In addition to illuminating bipolar disorder for anyone who has or has not experienced mental illness, Kay Jamison has written a beautiful story about the triumph of love over fear. This book will be a classic in the truest sense of the word.
Rating: 
Summary: an unquieted reader
Review: The author's approach is real, relevant and revolutionizing. Women who suffer with manic depression struggle in ways that can often be charted as early as age 5 but are usually undiagnosed until life is so out of control and/or unbareable. Jamison's personal story is inspiring in that she suffered her way into a victory. Isn't that all we really want. We just want to know that there is some meaning to the madness and that the moods will not overtake us in such away that our handicapped but hearty functioning is deemed invalid. Jamison's honesty was the thing I most appreciated. I've experienced days like she described and will use this memoir as a model.
Rating:
Summary: I must dissent; this book is deceptive
Review: Kay Jamison had bipolar (manic-depression) with psychotic manifestations. But although the book is interesting as any well-written book about mental illness is,this book is deceptive and at one point even dangerous in what it profers. First, Jamison had the fortune of living among some of the leading experts in bipolar disorder; she comes from an affluent, professional, educated family and had every conceivable benefit in terms of health care access, understanding and professional friends and colleagues, who were no doubt helpful to her (a luxury that many people with mental illness are not so lucky to possess). So to read this as a case study in the illness is quite erroneous. But what I found much worse, perhaps unforgiveable, is that after peppering her narrative with accounts of people who are/were bipolar and who have committed suicide or have attempted to commit suicide, and then, having the poor judgment of saying that even if she had the choice of living through her disorder or never having it to begin with, she would choose the former since it opened up dimensions of experience that made her life much richer and fuller is downright irresponsible and just plain stupid. To offer this reflection, even if it is from a personal perspective, is asinine. Does that mean that certain readers of this book who suffer through the disorder will follow suit and somehow rationalize that bipolar disorder is ultimately worth it? What about those who decide to adopt this position and then commit suicide when they are in a less lucid state? If the author thinks such radical changes of consciousness are a gift, maybe she ought to get a more interesting life, or just recommend that everyone drop acid to enliven their life experience. In short, this book is seems to be written by a spoiled, articulate rich kid with a huge social and professional safety net. No wonder we have such a fractured mental health system.
Rating:
Summary: So Clear
Review: Tomi Lee Rester,Reader
Several items are clearly outlines within this awe inspiring,truth telling book. That is-abuse comes in many forms. Whether it is abuse at your own hands or that of someone elses. I also learned from reading this memoir and several others...that illnesses such as this can be brought on by the terrors that children live with early in life. I applaud this author for speaking clearly and concisely...for letting us in to the thoughts that run through the mind. Also for making us more aware. Also recommended: Nightmares Echo-Katlyn Stewart, A Child called It-David Pelzer,Lucky-Anna Salter
Rating:
Summary: Madness that shaped all aspects of her life
Review: In the memoir An Unquiet Mind, Kay Redfield Jamison writes, "That I owed my life to pills was not, however, obvious to me for a long time; my lack of judgment about the necessity to take lithium proved to be an exceedingly costly one." When Jamison says "costly" she isn't merely speaking about money. She is speaking about time in her life, love lost, people around her, and her career. This memoir is a descriptive story about Jamison's life to the present, and how manic depression affected all aspects of her life.
The memoir starts off with her explaining her fairly normal childhood years, up to her early adolescence. She tells all about her mom, dad, brother and sister, and how they all acted in comparison to her. Her father was in the military, so therefore they moved around a lot, but one thing stayed steady in her life; her interest in science and medicine. Her parents were very supportive of her, and she was happy-go-lucky until she had to move to California for her last year of high school. That is when her first mania hit. She was miserable and depressed and didn't know what was wrong with her. Though, after a little while she was flying high and loved life once again. This is the norm for people with manic depression; dramatic highs and lows, and a balance of moods is wanted.
College brought the world of manic depression to her in an all new way. She no longer had her family suffocating her continuously, and she loved the freedom. She especially loved the freedom that the professors gave her while doing lab work. She would do it at any time, at any hour of the day. Jamison spoke of the weeks where she would not sleep at all, to the days where she couldn't even lift her head up. She knew something wasn't right, but she was in denial of what was going on, even though she was studying psychology at UCLA. College brought a lot of love and loss to her life. At times where she lost herself, people that loved her would bring her up again. Her loyal friends, family, especially her brother, and her professors kept her alive and moving forward in the hardest years of her life. Also Jamison had a lot of serious relationships throughout her college and early teaching career. The people in her life all cared about her and her illness, and helped her not think about all the bad happenings in her life, but to move on and live life to the fullest. She once wrote, "But if love is not the cure, it certainly can act as a very strong medicine."
Jamison lived the life of highs and lows for quit a long time. She loved the highs, where she was creative, energized, and up for anything, but hated the depressing lows that seemed to last forever, even though they only lasted merely a week. She lived for and loved the high so much that she would deal with the lows, until one day her current boyfriend, a psychologist, who knew about her illness, told her they had to do something. He confronted her about the medication, lithium, specifically made for mood disorders and manic depression. She started lithium, and saw a change for the best. Jamison didn't want to be on medication, though. She didn't want to have manic depression, and so she stopped taking her pills. This cycle went of for a good amount of time. She would go on lithium for her dramatic mood cycles, be depressed because she didn't want to be on lithium, get off lithium, then have to be put back on lithium because her lows would be so bad.
Jamison never failed to want to become more knowledgeable about her illness. It was her love, her interest, her life, and even more, her career. She lived most of her life hiding behind her illness, afraid to tell anyone, in fear that they would see her as "unstable" or "weak" but the fact is, she had no control over having the illness. She didn't set out to write this book asking for empathy or acceptance, but as a simple fact that she accepted that having manic depression was okay. It makes her strong, and she is not afraid for the whole world to know. She originally sat down to write a informative story about the daily life of a person with manic depression, but it turned out to be, her story. Her story, which proposed a life that balanced psychotherapy, lithium, and love.
This book was incredible; sometimes Jamison's words seemed almost poetic. I felt like I could quote her every word. Her incredible strength was the way she could reflect on her life, and everything that went on in it, and her feelings so vividly. She wrote as if everyday was just the previous day. At times she was brutally honest, and I couldn't help to think, "Could I live like that? How did she manage?"
The only part of the book that I saw as a weakness was how she ended it. The end was rather brief, and not at all descriptive. Throughout the book I dreamed of this ending where she described how her life was now, in the present, and how everything turned out for the best, but all she did was mention how being manic depressive shaped her life, and made her who she is today. I wanted for her to tell us through her eyes, like the rest of the book had been, who she really was at the present.
I would recommend this immensely truthful, insightful, and educational memoir to anyone who suffers with manic depression, and anyone who wants to learn more about it. This real story, told from one of the foremost authorities of manic depression, brings all its readers with a truly meaningful learning experience without even knowing it. Jamison writes "I cannot imagine becoming jaded to life, because I know of those limitless corners, with their limitless views." She not only draws you in so you are curious about her illness, she also has you feeling and caring for her, her survival, and well being.
Rating: 
Summary: This book is a miss
Review: Unfortunately, Jamison regurgitates all the same old tired cliches that have infected the pscychiatric profession. The profession is characterized by arrogance, condescension and patronization toward sufferers of all emotional illnesses. Sadly, Jamison is no exception. She and her colleagues are doing a great disservice to patients, by practicing an insipid form of treatment that has its origin in the relativism of the 60s. The sooner this generation of "professionals" retires, the better it will be for millions of people.
Rating:
Summary: Painfully frank and boldly accurate
Review: Kudos to Dr. Jamison for having the courage - and it takes tremendous courage - to publicly acknowledge and discuss BiPolar depression. I know because I also am BiPolar. Her story gave me comfort in knowing that I was not alone or unique in my feelings and struggles. My only criticism of the book is that the vast majority of people do not have her financial, educational, and social network resources . By constantly name-dropping her association with wealthy Ivy League schools, colleagues, and 'pillars of society', she put me off. Less elitism would have mad her story easier for more people to relate to and glean hope from.
|
