Highly recommended for mental health professionals.--Cafeafricana.com
An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness [Paperback]
Kay Redfield Jamison (Author)
In her bestselling classic, An Unquiet Mind, Kay Redfield Jamison changed the way we think about moods and madness.
Dr. Jamison is one of the foremost authorities on manic-depressive (bipolar) illness; she has also experienced it firsthand. For even while she was pursuing her career in academic medicine, Jamison found herself succumbing to the same exhilarating highs and catastrophic depressions that afflicted many of her patients, as her disorder launched her into ruinous spending sprees, episodes of violence, and an attempted suicide.
Here Jamison examines bipolar illness from the dual perspectives of the healer and the healed, revealing both its terrors and the cruel allure that at times prompted her to resist taking medication. An Unquiet Mind is a memoir of enormous candor, vividness, and wisdom—a deeply powerful book that has both transformed and saved lives.
Editorial Reviews
From the Inside Flap
Even as she was pursuing her psychiatric training, Jamison found herself succumbing to the exhilarating highs and paralyzing lows that afflicted many of her patients. Though the disorder brought her seemingly boundless energy and mercurial creativity, it also propelled her into spending sprees, episodes of violence, and an attempt at suicide.
Powerfully candid, exceptionally wise, An Unquiet Mind is one of those rare books that has the power to transform lives -- and even save them.
Review
"An invaluable memoir of manic depression, at once medically knowledgeable, deeply human and beautifully written . . . at times poetic, at times straightforward, always unashamedly honest."
—The New York Times Book Review
"Stands alone in the literature of manic-depression for its bravery, brilliance and beauty."
—Oliver Sacks
"Jamison's [strength] is in the gutsy way she has made her disease her life's work and in her brilliant ability to convey its joys and its anguish. . . . Extraordinary."
—Washington Post Book World
"The most emotionally moving book I've ever read about the emotions."
—William Safire, The New York Times Magazine
"Written with poetic and moving sensitivity . . . a rare and insightful view of mental illness from inside the mind of a trained specialist."
—Time
"Enlighting . . . eloquent and profound."
—San Francisco Chronicle
"Piercingly honest. . . . Jamison's literary coming-out is a mark of courage."
—People
"Brave, insightful, richly textured and chillingly authentic."
—Boston Globe
"A riveting portrayal of a courageous brain alternating between exhilarating highs and numbing lows."
—James D. Watson, Nobel laureate and author of The Double Helix
"In a most intimate and powerful telling, Jamison weaves the personal and professional threads of her life together. . . . [She] brings us inside the disease and helps us understand manic depression. . . . What comes through is a remarkably whole person with the grit to defeat her disease."
—Cleveland Plain Dealer
"A riveting read. I devoured it at a single sitting and found the book almost as compelling on a second read. . . . An Unquiet Mind may well become a classic. . . . Jamison sets an example of courage."
—Howard Gardner, Nature
"Stunning. . . . [An] exquisite (in both a literary and medical sense) autobiography. . . . This is an important, wonderful book."
—Jackson Clarion Ledger
"Extraordinary. . . . An Unquiet Mind must be read."
—The New England Journal of Medicine
"A beautiful, funny, original book. Powerfully written, it is a wonderful and important account of mercurial moods and madness. I absolutely love this book."
—Pat Conroy, author of The Prince of Tides
"A landmark. . . . The combination of the intensity of her personal life and the intellectual rigor of her professional experience make the book unique. . . . A vibrant and engaging account of the life, love and experience of a woman, a therapist, an academic, and a patient."
—British Medical Journal
"Affecting, honest, touching . . . fluid, felt and often lyrical."
—Will Self, The Observer (London)
"Quite astonishing. . . . Cuts through the dead jargon and detached observations of psychiatric theory and practice to create a fiery, passionate, authentic account of the devastation and exaltation, the blindness and illumination of the psychotic experience."
—The Sunday Times (London)
"Rises to the poetic and has a mystical touch. . . . A courageous and fascinating book, a moving account of the life of a remarkable woman."
—The Daily Telegraph (London)
"Fast-paced, startlingly honest and frequently lyrical. . . . Jamison has] a novelist's openness of phrase and talent for bringing character alive."
—Scotland on Sunday
"Superbly written. . . . A compelling work of literature."
—Independent on Sunday (London)
From the Publisher
--Oliver Sacks
"The most emotionally moving book I've ever read about emotions."
--William Safire, The New York Times Magazine
"An invaluable memoir of manic depression, at once medically knowledgeable, deeply human, and beautifully written ... at times poetic, at times straightforward, always unashamedly honest."
--The New York Times Book Review
"Written with poetic and moving sensitivity ... a rare and insightful view of mental illness from inside the mind of a trained specialist."
--Time
"A distinguished addition to the literature of mental illness, worthy of comparison to the classics in the genre, such as William Styron's Darkness Visible."
--Newark Star-Ledger
Kay Redfield Jamison is the Dalio Family Professor in Mood Disorders and Professor of Psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She is codirector of the Johns Hopkins Mood Disorders Center and a member of the governing board of the National Network of Depression Centers. She is also Honorary Professor of English at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland and the author of the national bestsellers An Unquiet Mind and Night Falls Fast, as well as Touched with Fire, Exuberance, and Nothing Was the Same. Dr. Jamison is the coauthor of the standard medical text on bipolar illness, Manic-Depressive Illness: Bipolar Disorders and Recurrent Depression, and the recipient of numerous national and international literary and scientific honors, including a MacArthur Award. In 2010 she married Thomas Traill, a cardiologist and Professor of Medicine at Johns Hopkins.
Literature Annotations
 | Jamison, Kay Redfield |
 | On-Line Text and Audio |
| Genre | Memoir (221 pp.) |
| Keywords | Chronic Illness/Chronic Disease, Depression, Disability, Doctor-Patient Relationship, Illness Narrative/Pathography, Mental Illness, Patient Experience,Professionalism, Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, Suffering, Suicide |
| Summary | The author, Professor of Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, is an authority on manic depressive illness. With this powerful, well-written memoir she "came out of the closet," publicly declaring that she herself had suffered from manic depressive illness for years. Jamison describes the manifestations of her illness, her initial denial and resistance to treatment with medication, attempted suicide, and her struggle to maintain an active professional and satisfying personal life. The author was "intensely emotional as a child," (p.4) and in high school first experienced "a light lovely tincture of true mania" (p.37) during which she felt marvelous, but following which she was unable to concentrate or comprehend, felt exhausted, preoccupied with death, and frightened. (pp. 36-40) Interested in medicine as an adolescent, she pursued her goal in spite of mood swings and periods of mental paralysis. Jamison completed graduate work in clinical psychology; shortly after obtaining a faculty appointment "I was manic beyond recognition and just beginning a long, costly personal war against a medication that I would, in a few year's time, be strongly encouraging others to take [lithium]." (p. 4) Jamison eventually, through strong support from friends and colleagues, excellent psychiatric care, and her own acceptance of illness, has been able to reach a state of relative equilibrium--tolerable levels of medication (fewer side effects) and dampened mood swings. But she makes clear that she must stay on lithium and remain vigilant. |
| Commentary | Jamison's purpose in writing this illness narrative is to inform, educate, and advocate. By revealing her condition, Jamison took professional and personal risks, which she thoughtfully considers here. She is well aware that there may be questions of professional responsibility and competence, and discusses how these issues were handled. The author's descriptions of how she felt during the manic and depressive stages of her illness are vivid and gripping. She makes us understand the seductiveness of the manic state--its intensity, the exuberance and energy it bestowed, how difficult it was to give that up by taking lithium. And Jamison also paints powerful pictures of anti-social behavior, black periods, the inability to work, and the disabling side effects of lithium. Jamison's paradoxical struggle to deny her own illness and avoid drug therapy is not uncommon among medical professionals. It is also not unusual to find health care workers who have themselves suffered from the disease they become expert in treating. The author's insights, intelligence, and fluid prose shed new light on these phenomena and provide the reader unusual access to a devastating condition. |
| Publisher | Knopf |
| Edition | 1995 |
| Place Published | New York |
| Alternate Publisher | Vintage |
| Alternate Edition | 1997 |
| Place Published | New York |
| Annotated by | Aull, Felice |
| Date of Entry | 09/15/97 |
| Last Revised | 01/14/10 |
Funmi Tofowomo
--The art of living and impermanence.
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