By the author of "Touched with Fire: Manic Depressive Illness and the Artistic Temperament" Jamison reveals her own struggle since girlhood with depression, how she mastered it and... more...how it shaped her life.
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struggle with manic depression since adolescence, and how it has shaped her life. The book follows her through college, a love affair, her battle with the illness...
A review by Trev15 on An Unquiet Mind - Kay Redfield Jamison September 23rd, 2001
Author's product rating:
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Very high
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Very easy
How interesting was the book?
Captivating
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Very useful
Would you read it again?
Absolutely
Value for money
Excellent
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See Op
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Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
Dr Kay Redfield Jamison is one of the world's authorities on manic depressive illness and also one of its many sufferers. An Unquiet Mind is the true memoir of Jamison's extended descent into 'madness'.
Born into a middle-class American family, Jamison was blessed with prosperous parents, intelligence and self-confidence. But along with her father and elder sister, she was prone to periods of severe 'black' moods. Jamison accepted these episodes as just being part of her personality. . . until. . . by the time she had settled into her Doctorate, she was, in her own words, completely insane.
Jamison does not hesitate at laying open her life for dissection: her failures and her successes. Being a talented writer, she (humorously) explains the path of her illness, complete with its exhilarating highs and subterranean lows. She adeptly recounts the torturous times when her illness would completely immobilise her, rendering her best friend - her mind - her worst enemy. During such periods, suicidal tendencies and hopelessness would completely prevail. This cost her relationships, self-respect and on more than one occasion, almost her life.
Conversely, the idolatrous highs were times of inimitable productivity. Ideas and answers would fly into her mind with astounding rapidity, constantly competing with each other for immediate attention and action. A distantly remembered poem would suddenly result in clarity of hidden messages. Feelings of general invincibility were absolute; sensuality without match. Sleep wasn't required; there simply wasn't time. Inevitably the cycle of moods would shift again and then the highs would need to be paid for with bouts of excruciating lows. Financial disaster and losing 'clinical privileges' were constant companions throughout. But somehow she managed to continue treating her patients - most with the same condition as herself - while also keeping her disorder from colleagues.
Unavoidably, Jamison had to obtain medical help. Finding herself on the opposite side of the desk, answering questions of which she was used to asking, acceptance finally began to dawn.
As the prescribed medication reigned in the psychosis, Jamison explains how she missed the extreme highs of her condition: -
"[when] you have had stars at your feet and the rings of Saturn through your hands. . .it is very difficult to blend into a three-piece suit."
She was almost reluctant to forsake the exuberance and productivity that her condition facilitated. Acknowledging that during these bouts she was at her most intense and vibrant disposition.
An unquiet mind is a brave personal story, which, no doubt, could have cost the author dearly in terms of her professional life. It is not a book geared for certain groups but is for anyone with preconceived notions of mental health. Perhaps the most surprising aspect of all is Jamison's explanations of the positive aspects of her condition and the europhoria brought... As a result of this, her memoir is also an educational tool for any that choose to know more about manic depressive illness.
Written with strength, humour and avoiding all jargon, Jamison has produced a piece of writing that will provide answers to questions that have yet to be asked.
Author Professor Kay Redfield Jamison
Publisher Picador 1997
ISBN 0 330 346512
Price P/back High Street £7.99 Amazon.co.uk £5.99 (+p&p)
Advantages: informative, insightful, brief Disadvantages: quite repetitive, not best title of the genre
...Though quite brief, it is an intense narrative with little light relief. Jamison recounts her experiences right from her time at college; which includes a love affair, a bereavement, bouts of illness, violence and most disturbingly, an attempted suicide. This is not a book for the faint hearted. Similar to other 'psychiatric literature' such as Elizabeth Wurtzel's 'Prozac Nation', Marya Hornbacher's 'Wasted' and the popular Susanna Kaysen's 'Girl ... ...on the back cover of books can often be misleading and it is vital to remember that just because a book has been published, it does not mean that it is outstanding. Don't read passively, read with an active mind - do not be afraid to challenge the printed word! ...
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08.02.2001
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