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An Unquiet Mind : A Memoir of Moods and Madness

An Unquiet Mind : A Memoir of Moods and Madness

List Price: $12.95
Your Price: $9.71
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 1 stars
Summary: A sanitized defense of the medical profession
Review: As the partner of a person who has suffered from manic-depressive illness for two decades, I have found this book quite intolerable in its glamourized portrayal of the illnes. An exaggerated prose and an equally excessive use of out-of-place adjectives may pass for some as "good writing," but this is no Kate Millett here.
Perhaps Dr. Jamison's main fault is her insistence on defending the medical establishment ad nauseam; "take your meds and you'll be fine," says the doctor. I am glad I had read Kate Millett's "The Looney bin trip" before this book, for otherwise my perception of bipolar disorder would have remained as twisted and misguided as it was before taking an interest in the illness. In Millett's narrative, I learnt about the pain of falling into the deep end and the excesses of the medical establishment towards its patients. It was interesting to see how two women, one a radical feminist, the other quite conservative, describe their encounter with the medical profession during the same period (mid-seventies and early eighties). For Millett, the encounter is simply devastating: painful descriptions of the terrible effects of lithium are combined with an even more painful and gruesome description of her forced hospitalizations and the brutality of the medical establishment towards "mental" patients; for Jamison, treated by authorities in the field who happen also to be her colleagues, the recollection of her ups and downs (and prepare yourself for a rollercoaster memoir in search of the Perfect Man!) is always a sanitized one: her only description of a hospitalization is not about herself, but about a patient of hers described not as a human being, but as a sick animal who needs to be restraint lest he makes the lives of his caretakers too uncomfortable...
This is a sanitized book for a sanitized audience, from a woman who is devoted to defending the same hand that feeds her (and that, of course, is quite understandable). The narrative keeps in line with the very American tradition of presenting even the most painful of experiences in an excessively positive light, all in search of spiritual fulfillment and a sense of self-satisfaction that can, by no means, be applied to the rest of individuals who suffer from this terrible and devastating illness.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Honest, and enlightening -
Review: The book is enlightening - and worth reading. But it is not particularly well written.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: it speaks for it self
Review: By recommendation I have came across to An Unquiet mind.
Written with such observation and illumination how can it be deal with illness such as manic depressive? It shows us that with enough courage and wisdom it is possible everything.
I Loved it....

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Riveting look at bi-polar disorder, from the inside
Review: A professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins, author Kay Jamison has written a riveting, brutally honest, and incredibly insightful memoir of her own history of bi-polar disorder (what used to be called manic depression) from its onset during her adolescence to the present. She chronicles her process of slowly coming to grips with her illness and her eventual acceptance of the beneficial role proper medication can play in the treatment of the disorder. And inspirational and highly educational book for general readers as well as for those who struggle with BPD themselves or have family members who do.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Fascinating / Inspirational insight into Manic Depression
Review: Fascinating / Inspirational insight into Manic Depression

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Only in academia!
Review: Only in academia could someone call themselves crazy and get a tenured position because of it.

This book is 200 pages, start to finish. And while the reading is very easy and light, she is a bit excessively--um-- florid in her writing style. Everything is "absolutely" this or "totally" or "incredibly" that. And bloated writing starts to wear on the nerves after 200 pages.

Her descriptions of the actual experience of having bipolar (I'm a male sufferer of this disorder) are very relevant and accurate. Especially her descriptions of the manias. It's very easy to look back after the fact and realize that what you did was inappropriate. But in the heat of a manic episode, it's impossible to stop. Her writing is that of someone who has looked back and analyzed her behavior long after the fact (It's usually done this way, since, as she demonstrates, a person's perceptions are skewed during these times.) And she only uses a few pages to describe what comes afterward-- the depression and the feeling of utter hopelesness. There are other things: The hypersexuality. Unchecked spending. Manic rage. Emotional instability.

She demonstrates that it's not all bad. The feeling of being manic is very good. You get things done. Your mind works much more quickly. You can perform better on less sleep.

This book is actually a bit more well written than Susanna Kaysen's "Girl, Interrupted." But significantly less powerful than Elie Wiesel's "Night," which managed to easily paint a much more vivid picture of human emotional turmoil in 1/2 the amount of space.

If on the subject of bipolar, this book is very relevant. It's questionable how useful it would be in getting someone who is not afflicted with this disease to understand it. But it's a start at the least.

And it gives the reader an idea of what goes on in the minds of mentally ill people afflicted with various disorders. People often wonder why sick people refuse to take their medication. And there is some discussion of that contained in this book. Though it's not directly related to the issue of bipolar, it is relevant for anyone who has watched a loved one not go through some treatment of *any* illness because they just weren't willing to believe that they were ill.

The relationships with other people could have been developed a bit better. It would have been useful (for a sufferer of bipolar) to notice his relationships with people as a gauge of his behavior. The ability to do this doesn't usually come until after some trauma makes you want to do such a thing.

All in all, a good effort.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Manic reading?
Review: I have never sat down to read a book cover to cover without getting up. Being a first for everything, An Unquiet Mind had me glued to my seat.

When reading the experiences of Dr. Jamison, I saw so much of myself. Her book showed me that I am not alone in what I experience...but instead am in the majority.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who lives with bipolar, or knows someone who is diagnosed such.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Excellent
Review: A wonderful story, true also, of a woman and her diagnosis of bipolar disease. Kay Redfield Jamisosn tells her story of ups and downs and in-betweens with touching, funny, and original realness. If someone you know, or yourself, has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder this book will feel like the true story that you may have written yourself.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: An Unquiet Mind is Kay Redfield
Review: An Unquiet Mind is Kay Redfield-Jamison's memoir of a turbulent struggle with chronic manic-depressive illness and all that it entails. Vivid descriptions of deep depressions and the summits of florid mania are colored by the irony of the author's occupation as a professor of clinical psychiatry. While her account will leave many feeling privileged to have gained an otherwise inaccessible glimpse into this often crippling yet curious illness, it may well articulate some of the experiences of those who have confronted depression and\or mania in their own life. A truly enlightening tale.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The queen of psychiatry and her memoir
Review: Kay is as close as it gets to royalty in the field of psychiatry, and "An Unquiet Mind" showcases her strengths as a writer and a person. In comparison, nearly all the other mental illness memoirs lack flair- only Susanna Kaysen ("Girl, Interrupted") can write as well. So not only is Kay an authority on bipolar disorder, but also she is a great writer and brave person. It's hard to find any fault with "An Unquiet Mind"- I suppose it could be criticized for not providing more information about bipolar disorder, but that was probably never the intent. The interested reader should check out her other books, including the textbook on manic-depressive illness, for more info about the disease. "An Unquiet Mind" is poetic and, along with "Girl, Interrupted", approaches fine literature. Avery Z. Conner, author of "Fevers of the Mind".


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