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Summary: "If you only buy one book about bipolar....."
Review: ...disorder, then buy this one. For yourself, to help you understand yourself and to understand your psychiatrist too. And then buy Jamison's autobiography, "An unquiet mind", to lend to family and friends to help them understand as best as any "normal" person can. Comprehensive and technical. But entirely readable, this is THE textbook on the subject and although Jamison was not "out" as one of us at the time she wrote, it still shows! It was frightening in some ways to read this for the first time some years ago, realising just how accurately she and her co-author described my experiences, yet at the same time reassuring that here was someone who really had a grip on this disease. No book gets 5 star reviews from 8 people (so far) without good reason.
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Summary: a must
Review: as a sufferer of manic depression, this book has been invaluable to me. Its like my bible. I realize its a lengthy book and some areas are out of date but its still like my bible. I highly recommend it.
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Summary: Intense and dense - and complete
Review: Don't buy this for light reading - this is a professional reference that everyone who is bipolar as has someone bipolar in their life should have access to. It is well worth the time and effort to read. It often easy to tell which of the authors has written each section as they have different writing styles. This is no detriment - they each offer a wealth of information.
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Summary: Very thorough and comprehensive.
Review: Especially interesting is the data presented on artistic productivity and religious and political leadership. I was diagnosed with cyclothymia recently, which is on the low end of the manic-depressive spectrum and am being treated with lithium. I asked my psychiatrist what to read on the subject and he said the only book he could recommend is this one, since others tend to focus on the extreme cases and manic-depressive illness covers a wide range of disorders. Reading the section on the relationship between manic-depressive illness, leadership, and creativity has given me great insight into my own experience as a follower of Christ, a leader, and a doctoral student in Christian Spirituality. For decades I struggled with suicidal impulses until I was healed through exorcism about nine years ago. I am now thinking of changing the focus of my dissertation towards the relationship of traditional Christian healing practices and modern medical healing practices. I would be interested in email from anyone with experience/knowledge in this area.
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Summary: The most comprehensive resource on Bipolar Disorder.
Review: Goodwin and Jamison go far beyond any other authors in compiling information regarding manic depressive illness. From etiology, treatment, genetics, psychosocial factors and case studies, Manic Depressive Illness is a resource that every clinician treating bipolar disorder must have.I am in great anticipation of the 2nd edition!
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Summary: The ultimate in the description of manic-depressive illness
Review: Having been diagnosed with Bipolar II four years ago, I searched and researched the Internet and bookstores for anything I could find on Manic-Depressive illness. It was by pure chance that I stumbled on this book. Some years ago, I was a nursing student and psychiatric nursing seemed to be my speciality, since I had some innate ability to understand the mind. And, ever the nursing student, I continued long after nursing school to learning more about psychiatric illness, especially once I was diagnosed with it. The book is technical in content, but easy for the layperson to understand, providing they have a good dictionary. Being a nursing student, much of the language comes easy for me, but the layperson can grasp a good understanding of the illness. Their references to Kraepelin were especially important since he was the first to recognized the two poles of the illness. I would recommend this book to any person diagnosed with Bipolar and their families, to help understand their illness and to know they are not alone.
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Summary: The most humane yet rigorous textbook in psychiatry
Review: I bought and used this text for years before I came across Kay Jamison's autobiography, and found it to be outstandingly kind, compassionate, empathic, and understanding of its subjects in a way not seen in our field since the best writing of Freud. Having learned of Dr. Jamison's personal journey through manic depressive illness, I can more readily understand how this textbook came to be so inspired and inspiring. An excellent text for students, to teach compassion as well as science; perhaps quite technical for many sufferers and their family members, but worth the effort for those who want the very best in information about manic depression. -Phil Torrance MD (Diplomate in Psychiatry)
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Summary: Excellent but holding only old views in treatments
Review: I was diagnosed with Bipolar I back in 1992, when I was 29 and have researched the illness seriously since 1998 when I was a Sophomore in college as a Psychology major. Like Dr. Jamison, I plan on becoming a Clinical Psychologist and an expert in the area. The book was an excellent reference about the illness and I recommend it to anyone with one drawback. It only advocates the old views regarding treatment, primarily only Lithium and a mentioning of Depakote and Tegretal. Dr. Jamison also only advocates Lithium in all of her other books. For 6 years, the Dr.'s that treated me did the same along with adding Depakote combination. I'm allergic to Tegretal. I took my medication faithfully during this time and lived in a state of constant manic mode. It was with the courage of a new Dr. that realized that I am traditional treatment resistant and prescribed Lamictal in Jan. 98 and that is when my life went from the gutter to receiving my BA in Psychology in Jun. 2000. The number of patients with Refractory Bipolar, or in my case, just resistant are mounting and attention need to brought to the foreground of the newer anticonvulsives effectiveness: Lamictal, Neurontin, and Topomax. I lived in total dispair for 6 yrs. and as a future Practioner, I will make sure that a patient of mine never has to suffer the way I did. Someday in the future with the coordination from Psychiatry, I hope to write a book on newer, better, and safer medications for treatment practices. I thank Dr.'s Goodwin and Jamison for their work for advocating information on the illness, yet it is a disadvantage in the way of treatment.
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Summary: The most thorough resource I've seen
Review: This book is by far the most thorough resource on bipolar (manic-depression) I've seen, even referred too by my psychiatry texts.
It has helped me understand a disease that is in my family and was misunderstood and misdiagnosed for years.
The book gives both psychological and medical aspects of this dangerous illness.
This is not light reading. It is full of research findings and charts.
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Summary: The Grand Father of all Manic-Depressive literature.
Review: This book is everything you need to know about manic-depressive illness that your doctor doesn't have time to tell you. Dr. Kay Redfield Jamison has a passion for the subject and the knowledge to back it up. As and individual afflicted with manic-depressive illness, I have read almost every book Jamison and others have published on Manic-Depressive Illness and can honestly say that if it has her name as author, it is an excellent resource on manic-depressive illness. She is thorough and concise yet easy to understand. This book has it all. Everything you want to know, technically, about manic-depressive illness is in this book. For a personal account, "An Unquiet Mind" is a must, also written by Dr. Kay Jamison Redfield. She is an expert on the topic personally and professionally. What a wonderfully sensative combination. Thanks again Kay!
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