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Summary: Brilliant writing bridges the gap between doctor and patient
Review: Dr. Jamison has provided a vivid first person picture of life as a medical professional with manic-depressive illness.
She has bridged the gap between provider and patient. Her descriptions give the reader insights into the euphoria of the manic stage and the despair of the depressed stage in such a way as to let you feel present at the occurence.
She is obviously a very skilled clinician as well as a skilled writer. This may wake up a whole generation that often tries to deny the existance, and successful treatment of this terrible illness.
Thank God, she came out of the closet for all those who suffer from mental illness and all those who successfully cope with it through medication and therapy. What a role model!
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Summary: An expert with personal experience -- and excellent writer
Review: Just a quote from her book:
"There is a particular kind of pain, elation, loneliness, andterror involved in this kind of madness. When you're high it's tremendous. The ideas and feelings are fast and frequent like shooting stars, and you follow them until you find better and brighter ones. Shyness goes, the right words and gestures are suddenly there, the power to captivate others a felt certainty. There are interests found in uninteresting people. Sensuality is pervasive and the desire to seduce and be seduced irresistible. Feelings of ease, intensity, power, well-being, financial omnipotence, and euphoria pervade one's marrow. But, somewhere, this changes. The fast ideas are far toofast, and there are far too many; overwhelming confusion replaces clarity. Memory goes. Humor and absorption on friends' faces are replaced by fear and concern. Everything previously moving with the grain is now against - you are irritable, angry, frightened, uncontrollable, and enmeshed totally in the blackest caves of the mind. You never knew those caves were there."
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Summary: Crucial for Understanding Bipolar
Review: I picked up a copy of this book at an airport bookstore on my way to a job interview. I typically never read autobiographies or memoirs, but the title of this "An Unquiet Mind" resonated so perfectly with the type of hypomania that I experience. I had just been diagnosed and was (am still) dealing with the stigma, questioning, repercussions, misunderstandings, explanations, etc. This book, written by an authority with both clinical and personal knowledge of manic depression, gave me a better understanding of my own condition, as well as the means to educate others (friends, family) who can't grasp that what they thought was me is actually my illness. Jamison's is the best book I have found to date that can provide insight into the lived experience of both mania and depression. I recommend it to anyone in the field of mental health, as well as to those of us diagnosed bipolar and our families and friends. This is definitely crucial reading to develop an understanding of this devastating disorder.
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Summary: Very good book!!!
Review: If you want the inside track on Bipolar Disorder this is the book to get,Well written.
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Summary: Impressive and enlightening
Review: Over the past 20 years I've had several friends who suffered from manic-depressive illnesses. It's abundantly clear to me that the disease is primarily biochemical and "not their fault." But I had trouble understanding why these people refused to take their medication (or stopped taking it after they started) and otherwise engaged in massive denial. Jamison's frank and well-written book was a revelation: now I feel I have a better sense of the seductiveness of mania, and why creative, intelligent people are often willing to risk the lows of their illness for the sake of the highs. As Jamison points out emphatically, however, the long-term effects of bipolar disorder can be devastating mentally and physically (not to mention the financial and personal fallout) -- hence her crusade to understand the basis of the illness, and learn how to fine-tune the medication so that the sufferer achieves equilibrium without deadening the sensitivity and creativity that often accompany this disease. I'd already read "Night Falls Fast," which is also excellent, but this book set out the personal story behind Jamison's research interests. While she insists that love alone won't cure the disease, it's also clear that, without the love of her loyal friends, this intelligent, talented, and articulate woman might never have made it through the more difficult years, let alone become a respected authority in her profession. Anyone who suffers from bipolar disorders, and those who love them, should read this book.
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Summary: A found mind.....
Review: I am a 26 yr old woman that has only six months ago been diagnoised with bi-polor...this book was amazing. So many of the same things that Kay speaks of I feel- deeply. My therapist told me to go through and hi-lite all the things that really touch home with me...most of the book is now hi-lighted...it has allowed me another way to talk with my family and friends about all of the issues and obstacles I have faced and struggled with. I recommend this book to anyone that has a family member that has been diagnoised or a close friend. Or if you think you may have some of the symptoms of bi-polor.
It's hard to reach for help if you are bi-polor especially if your manic...it feels really good - but read and look at the reality of not getting help....
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Summary: WOW!
Review: One word describes it! Kay Redfield Jamison has writtenan unbiased, fact-filled book about manic-depressive illness;a book that is also her personal memoir. By writing her story, she has shed much needed light on a complex subject. She has done this with an honesty & a bravery that is truly stunning. Jamison is an AMAZING person, to have accomplished all that she has (e.g. she is a full professor of psychiatry), while coping with a DIFFICULT & very mis-understood illness. And yet - she always keeps her successes in perspective; she emphasizes that without human love, she surely would not be alive today -- a testament to what people can do for each other if they care! In addition, Jamison never fails to give credit to all the factors that contributed to her recovery: medication, psychotherapy, friends, family & NO ONE giving up on her. An Unquiet Mind shows us how Understanding & knowledge help erase much of the fear that comes with illnesses like manic-depression. Additionally, Jamison has a real talent for writing--she has a style that is at once honest & beautiful. This is an eye-opening, heart-wrenching, enjoyable, ABSOLUTELY - WORTHWHILE - book to read!
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Summary: Excellent Account
Review: <br /><br />Having dealt most of my life with Manic-Depression, this is one of the better books to read, both from the Doctor's point of view as well as one that is living with the situation. I wish it would have touched a little more on the why it happens but thankfully there are several boos out there that explain the why's such as: <br />Skywriting, Brilliant Madness and Nightmares Echo.
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Summary: ashes and diamonds
Review: Kay Redfield Jamison knows manic-depressive illness, a term she prefers over "bipolar disorder", from the inside out. In this masterful memoir she writes of her soaring highs and despairing lows eloquently, never running out of words to describe the two extreme states. Holder of a PhD in psychology from UCLA, she candidly admits that lithium is vitally necessary to manage her mental health, but also she believes that therapy will help a great deal toward resolving the many breakages---career path, friendships, love affairs--that manic depression can leave in its wake. She is generous in her praise and thanks to all who have helped her through the years, from colleague-therapists, to her lovers, to her mother, brother, and his children. As I read this book, I had questions about various topics: How common is this disorder and through how many generations can we currently trace it? What was done in the past to treat it? How does one "regulate" the dosage of lithium so life is not just shades of grey forever? How strong is the hereditary component? How did Jamison, who is childless, feel about having children? The author has thought through her presentation so well that by the time I finished, all my queries had been addressed. Jamison is awe of current biotech studies, which depict in vivid color photos the state of the brain, from excited and "high" moods to depressed and "low". But is life more than mere chemical reactions? Jamison's heroic determination to claim her life and to relish it in spite of manic-depressive illness gives us a resounding "yes!"
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Summary: Of Moods and Madness
Review: Kay Redfield Jamison's book "An Unquiet Mind", takes us into the terrifying yet fascinating world of manic-depressive illness. Through her own personal experience with manic depression, Jamison allows us glimpses of a disease that is sometimes humorous, often frightening, but usually misunderstood. Viewed from the safety and predictability of "normalacy" we live the manias with it's intensity of mood and character as well as the depressions and suicidal ideations that inevitably follow. But the book does not keep readers motivated to turn pages because it is a personal story. Rather, Jamison takes us to the fringes of our own madness, our own manias and depressions. Here we are reminded how fine a line exists between sane and insane, a line perhaps none of us are immune from crossing.Jamison's struggle and ultimate victory over the disease are her ultimate gifts to the reader as she aspires to become a Professor of Psychiatryand a world authority on manic-dpression. Her book is a must for those readers brave enough to expose their own raw edges. I guarantee the joking words of the "need to be on lithium" will have a different meaning thereafter.
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