TOUCHED WITH FIRE: Manic Depressive Illness and the Artistic Temperament

Rating:
Summary: a pillar of hope
Review: As a sufferer of bipolar disorder myself, it is very comforting to have as accomplished a woman as Kay Jamison to look up to - and it is even more so to know her life from An Unquiet Mind and the lives of other famous depressed and bipolar patients from Byron to Hemmingway. This is an impressive compilation of many different types of research that comes together to form a very centered, strong essay-style presentation of the underlying connection between manic-depression and artistic creativity. To have this as a resource gives me hope on a very regular basis that this is a disease with positives, and that anyone else can understand the disease and art itself better through this incredible synthesis of art and science.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: Jamison's book on the fascinating, yet controversial correlation between bipolar disorder and creativity is well written and thorougly researched. She is a bipolar, and psychiatrist as well, and she has basically devoted her life to the study of the disorder. Not only is the argument she presents thoroughly convincing, but in the end she leaves the question semi-open-ended, as any good writer/scientist should do. Certain chapters are tinged with her odd, delightful sense of humor, which is always nice: she is able to treat such a somber subject like bipolar with a refreshing clarity. Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: Dr. Jamison tells about how the artist is more likely to suffer from manic illness than other careers. This books gives insight to the highs and lows of the great writers and artists of the English and American world. An excellent read for those interested in the psychology of artist and their temperaments.

Rating:
Summary: least of her books
Review: This is one of my favorite authors on the subject of mood disorders, but the book was a disappointment. Most of the information about creative people that she used is well known and documented in other sources. Ms. Jamison did a nice job of explaining the family history of some of our favorite creative people of old, defining the link between mood disorders of family members. As an artist my interest was in those who had been successfully treated for their disorder and lived to be creative again. This book was an analysis of THE PAST, statistics relating to the resuming of creative careers after treatment were not in this book. I very much enjoyed her other writing but this was a detailed rehash of old information and didn't offer much beyond dry research and statistics.

Rating:
Summary: Artistic Endeavor
Review: Having been recently diagnosed with Bipolar I want to learn everything I can about the disease. My psychiatrist recommended this book. It is not an easy read, and I kept a dictionary in arms reach. The book, however, has inspired the artist inside of me and I have begun writing, and writing well to my own amazement. The book has touched my soul and spurred me on to profound thinking.

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant
Review: But what else do you expect from Jamison? Opens the door,and explains mystical traits of MD in detail. Really lovely, and Important Book.

Rating:
Summary: Paradoxically Inspirational
Review: Thankfully Jamison added a little culture into this book. For the artists and writers who are dealing with manic-depression, swimming through a barrage of scientific mumbo jumbo and left-brained analysis, I'd recommend this. For not only will it build your self-esteem when you discover the distinguished company you associate with, but it may lighten your fact-filled head with some beautiful poetry written by some of the greatest poets to have walked the fields.

Rating:
Summary: Illness to genius
Review: First off, even if we can eradicate certain diseases it doesn't mean we should. If manic depression does exist, and is not yet another piece of the crazy pie, then let it be.
However, if manic depression is physical, then it should not be called a mental illness. And its absurd of the author to go back and make speculations about artists, many who have been dead a long time. If today we are going to call our creative geniuses mad, then come right out and say it. Don't try to pin them under a newly discovered "disorder" just because it is the fashion of OUR day to be so labeled. The world has always been full of different types of people, acting in a variety of ways. Today we just happen to be less intolerant of the more unusual or interesting types and feel it is our business to correct them. If a person is truly suffering, they will go for help and hopefully find it through either medication or some other type of therapy. Jamison seems to like to romanticize what appears to be a growing problem. Time will tell its source, and hopefully reveal something useful for the people enduring it. This book is not useful for those people. I am an artist myself, and I do suffer depression. And I have written many things that were not depressing to me, but sound just like some of the passages in this book. I'm sure years from now someone could say that I wrote those things during times of unbearable agony. But as a psychologist, I would know they are just inventing something they need to hear, and nothing that is going to do them a darn bit of good in the time they're living.

Rating:
Summary: Manic Depression: A Disease of Civilization.
Review: If you're one of those people like me, who thinks a little differently than everybody else, "marches to their own drummer", is a hardened individualist, or spends much of his time concocting elaborate schemata involving the CIA, the NSA, the Jesuits, and the Freemasons, then the *shrinks* have sure got a new label for you to wear. The old term "manic depression" isn't cutting it anymore in this politically correct era of "special interest groups" and Survivor TV - so they've softened it to get it in line with the times, now it's Bipolar Disorder. They also have some nifty medicines to sedate you with - to "help you fit in better with society's norms", I suppose a sedated society where people prefer watching Survivor TV is more "normal" than the real thing afterall. Kaye Jamison Redfield does a fine job of towing the newfangled line the shrinks want you to hear. Now, it's okay. Nevermind all the damage it's caused, all the money you've lost, or how family members are worried about you to the point of having their own breakdown. No! Now it's called "the artistic temperament". What do you expect from a weakened, apathetic society such as the one we live in, where the youth would rather watch Friends than read a work of literature? My advice. Turn off the TV, your impression was right. It's all propaganda being beamed into your head anyway.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent and Fascinating
Review: I read this book a year ago, after passing through a major depressive episode. The reasons for reading the book, at the time, was to read about the artistic personality (I am in the arts) as well as find out more about my condition, which I know already was not bi-polar.
And, by george, there it was, a not-so-well known mood disorder called cyclothymia. Imminently treatable, and well described.
This is a gem of a book. More than a gem, it's both fascinating reading as well as extraordinarily informative. The author was far less able to write with such eloquence on her own depressive episodes, but this book is a gold mine of enormously readable information.