Status
Available
Call number
Collection
Publication
Knopf (1995), Edition: 1, 240 pages
Description
Biography & Autobiography. Medical. Psychology. Nonfiction. HTML:NATIONAL BESTSELLER �?� A deeply powerful memoir about bipolar illness that has both transformed and saved lives�??with a new preface by the author. 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 medic… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member SqueakyChu
My first acquaintance with the author of this book was in an article of The Washington Post Magazine quite a few years ago. I remember reading about a woman who was suffering from manic-depression. I was horrified to find out from that article that she was also a practicing clinical psychologist.
Sadly, I know of people who have successfuly ended their young lives after having suffered with this disorder. My feeling is that anything the general public can do to help these individuals is a step in the right direction. Most of all, though, it's to the credit of Dr. Kay Redfield Jamison that the public has become more aware of this genetic disorder and its implications in an individual's life.
I took from this book the need for the public to accept each person affected with bipolar disorder with warmth and understanding and reject the stigmas that have been part of this mental illness in the past. I also expect that no one should assume to understand the demons of living with bipolar disorder, although the author does a magnificent job of putting her experiences into words.
My hope is that I'll be able to use what I've learned from this book in a positive manner to help others and continue to read works by Dr. Jamison and others in an effort to expand my knowledge of this devastating illness.
Show More
Now, many years later, I finally have had the chance to read her memoir. I am so glad that the field of psychiatry has evolved as much as it has during the intervening years and look foward to yet more progress in the treatment of what is now called bipolar disporder. Sadly, I know of people who have successfuly ended their young lives after having suffered with this disorder. My feeling is that anything the general public can do to help these individuals is a step in the right direction. Most of all, though, it's to the credit of Dr. Kay Redfield Jamison that the public has become more aware of this genetic disorder and its implications in an individual's life.
I took from this book the need for the public to accept each person affected with bipolar disorder with warmth and understanding and reject the stigmas that have been part of this mental illness in the past. I also expect that no one should assume to understand the demons of living with bipolar disorder, although the author does a magnificent job of putting her experiences into words.
My hope is that I'll be able to use what I've learned from this book in a positive manner to help others and continue to read works by Dr. Jamison and others in an effort to expand my knowledge of this devastating illness.
Show Less
LibraryThing member Ravenclaw79
I was very disappointed by this book. I hoped to gain new insight into what it's like for someone with bipolar disorder, but this book didn't tell me anything I didn't already know just from researching on the Internet and being around the mental health community. Plus, it was almost too happy of a
Show More
story -- "I had a lot of bad symptoms, but let me gloss over them, 'cause I took a pill, and hey, first pill I tried made me all better!" Maybe I'm exaggerating a tiny bit, but seriously, it seemed so easy for her, just take one pill and it all becomes much better and totally manageable. I know for a fact that for a lot of people with bipolar disorder (and any other mental illness, in fact), it's not that simple -- it takes a lot of tinkering, trying one pill after another, first this combination of medications, then that one, dosage up, dosage down, awful side effects, hey, let's try this one now instead, and you still might not be much better. By not mentioning that fact in her book, the author grossly oversimplifies the treatment of mental illnesses and how difficult of a process it can be. Show Less
LibraryThing member marshapetry
A fairly quick overview of one person's unquiet mind. Doesn't get into depth about mental illness - this is more of a history lesson of Kay's life. Leaves a LOT of questions unanswered and I guess that is the author's prerogative but it didn't help the book. It *is* interesting and Kay is a fine
Show More
narrator but left me wanting a whole lot more about some areas in her life... (and, conversely, was way too much info about her love life and boyfriends. It's nice that she's found some good men but the spiels about how great so-n-so was and how brilliant and witty etc... just wasn't that interesting. Would have loved to hear more about the unquiet illness than how good some guy was at cooking or cleaning or talking... Show Less
LibraryThing member Arctic-Stranger
This is an extremely well written memoir of a person who suffers from bipolar disorder. Not just a person, but a professor of psychiatry.
Jamison is an amazing person in many ways, and that is perhaps the books most glaring weakness. Most people who suffer from bipolar disorder don't have her
Still this is a good book to help someone understand the basic ins and outs of bipolar disorder. I recommend to spouses of people recently diagnosed as bipolar. It gives them some understanding, but also some hope that they can have something of a normal life (whatever THAT is.)
Even if you are not interested in mental health, the book is entertaining and extremely well written.
Jamison is an amazing person in many ways, and that is perhaps the books most glaring weakness. Most people who suffer from bipolar disorder don't have her
Show More
intellect, talents or resources. Still this is a good book to help someone understand the basic ins and outs of bipolar disorder. I recommend to spouses of people recently diagnosed as bipolar. It gives them some understanding, but also some hope that they can have something of a normal life (whatever THAT is.)
Even if you are not interested in mental health, the book is entertaining and extremely well written.
Show Less
LibraryThing member meggyweg
This was overrated. I learned very little about what it's like to actually have manic-depression; Dr. Jamison preferred to write about her love life and her visits to England. She glossed over her suicide attempt and the only description of hospitalization is that of one of her patients. Also, the
Show More
memoir skips back and forth in time and it's irritating. There are better books out there. Show Less
LibraryThing member ratastrophe
As someone with bipolar disorder (or manic depressive disorder, if you prefer), I know this kind of subject matter well. Reading the author's unfolding story had me doing a lot of "yep, been there and done that" but also a lot of "wow, I'm glad that didn't happen to me" and "huh, I wonder why THIS
I expected all of that. People with bipolar disorder stop at a lot of the same way stations but travel between them in a huge array of styles.
What I didn't expect was for this book to be so triggering for me, primarily in the explanation of how hard it is to stay on medication. While reading those parts, I found myself longing for the person that *I* was without medication. This is a struggle that it seems like nobody really escapes (at least nobody that I've known), and the fact that I felt it so keenly while reading this book makes me suspect that the author does a good job of conveying how hard it can be to stay medicated - even when you know intellectually that it's saving your life.
Would somebody 'normal' find this as good of a read as I did? No clue... but I'm probably as close to 'normal' as I'll ever get and I liked it. :)
Show More
didn't happen to her even though it happened to me so many times".I expected all of that. People with bipolar disorder stop at a lot of the same way stations but travel between them in a huge array of styles.
What I didn't expect was for this book to be so triggering for me, primarily in the explanation of how hard it is to stay on medication. While reading those parts, I found myself longing for the person that *I* was without medication. This is a struggle that it seems like nobody really escapes (at least nobody that I've known), and the fact that I felt it so keenly while reading this book makes me suspect that the author does a good job of conveying how hard it can be to stay medicated - even when you know intellectually that it's saving your life.
Would somebody 'normal' find this as good of a read as I did? No clue... but I'm probably as close to 'normal' as I'll ever get and I liked it. :)
Show Less
LibraryThing member tealightful
I had a very hard time with this book. It was a mix between a very dry birth of clinical mental health studies and a very vague, pretentious personal story.
The first few chapters were very promising, I felt there was passion infused in the pages as she spoke about her father, her military
I admire Ms. Jamison for the strong, obviously intelligent psychologist that she is and for the great studies and growth she has brought to her field. On a personal level, I do not feel that her story was as honest and clear as it could've been. I didn't connect with her struggle, as it wasn't descriptive or deep.
It reads more as a clinical study and I would recommend this book only to those studying the field; not to the typical memoir lover.
The first few chapters were very promising, I felt there was passion infused in the pages as she spoke about her father, her military
Show More
upbringing, her mother..her general early life. But as the story continued forward, it became more disjointed, dried out and read as if she used a thesaurus on every word humanly possible. It was overkill.I admire Ms. Jamison for the strong, obviously intelligent psychologist that she is and for the great studies and growth she has brought to her field. On a personal level, I do not feel that her story was as honest and clear as it could've been. I didn't connect with her struggle, as it wasn't descriptive or deep.
It reads more as a clinical study and I would recommend this book only to those studying the field; not to the typical memoir lover.
Show Less
LibraryThing member allison.sivak
It's both a relief and a worry to hear about how long in your life you can go successfully hiding and self-managing your mental illness. Really nicely written.
LibraryThing member SmithSJ01
This memoir is compelling reading. I have found it to be frank and honest as well as informative. I had a friend, sadly no longer with us, who was manic depressive and I found reading this a way of understanding who he was.
Kay Jamison writes about her life from seventeen - when she had her first
I couldn't actually put this book down and read it in the course of one day, over a series of sittings. This book must be of help for people who don't know how to deal with their own turmoil at the hands of this illness and likewise for those whose lives are affected by it. It doesn't have a text book feel about it but nor does it feel lightweight.
I can't recommend this book enough!
Kay Jamison writes about her life from seventeen - when she had her first
Show More
attack of manic depression - through to her life now as an adult over twenty years later. It is an extremely well written account and whilst it is factual and often distressing to read I actually enjoyed it. It shows not only her courage but her determination to succeed at life with an illness that almost killed her. I couldn't actually put this book down and read it in the course of one day, over a series of sittings. This book must be of help for people who don't know how to deal with their own turmoil at the hands of this illness and likewise for those whose lives are affected by it. It doesn't have a text book feel about it but nor does it feel lightweight.
I can't recommend this book enough!
Show Less
LibraryThing member joannajuki
For Kay Jamison, madness was a lightning bolt. But it doesn't usually strike like that. There was a great vacuum in this book at the psychotherapeutic level.
LibraryThing member grammarchick
I'm bipolar and this book was infuriating. This woman is just full of herself and acts like being bipolar is like having a cold or something. When her doctor dared to suggest that, given the severity of her case, she not have biological children, she blew up on him. I chose not to have children
Show More
because I do not want to pass this on and I don't have half the issues this chick has. It's not like giving your kids an ugly nose or making them acne-prone. This disorder is very real and can be horrifying, and this woman seems to have no idea, even when she's floating in the middle of it. I shudder to think of other people reading this and a) thinking that's how we all are, or (b) adopting her selfish, irate attitude. Show Less
LibraryThing member Cheryl_in_CC_NV
Interesting. Surprisingly quiet, ironically, as there's no dialogue - it's just a this happened and this is how I felt about and then I made this choice and then that happened" for 200 pp. No bibliography or notes, virtually no outside perspective.
I found it amazing that Jamison had so much
I found it disturbing that she feels that her low moods are comparable to being old. Granted, I am less passionate as I age, and less athletic, but I wouldn't have to be. Even the very infirm might very well feel ecstasies - and young, healthy people get clinically, chronically depressed, too. I want to know how she views the comparison that she made here, now that she herself is older.
Overall, well-written, and valuable, especially as an advocacy to convince people to get good help and to follow through with prescribed treatment plans. But not the first book I'd recommend to people looking for help."
I found it amazing that Jamison had so much
Show More
support, so much love, and still fought not to take her meds. A reader is made to realize that it's not surprising that so many people effectively resist treatment, because they really do feel best when manic, as they don't have the support she did to help them feel better at other times. And she makes it abundantly clear that it's meds psychotherapy that is necessary and best for most sufferers.I found it disturbing that she feels that her low moods are comparable to being old. Granted, I am less passionate as I age, and less athletic, but I wouldn't have to be. Even the very infirm might very well feel ecstasies - and young, healthy people get clinically, chronically depressed, too. I want to know how she views the comparison that she made here, now that she herself is older.
Overall, well-written, and valuable, especially as an advocacy to convince people to get good help and to follow through with prescribed treatment plans. But not the first book I'd recommend to people looking for help."
Show Less
LibraryThing member Desirichter
Psychiatrist Kay Jamison details the mind of a manic/depressive patient from the concurrent lenses of patient and practitioner. Informative, compassionate, insightful. How to translate this book to the classroom? Biology, pharmacology? I would love to have highschool students be able to pinpoint
This book simultaneously humanizes and medicalizes bipolar disorder, and in my opinion needed to be written in order to keep destigmatizing mental illness
Show More
the pathology and possibly the pharmacological mechanism of lithium. This book simultaneously humanizes and medicalizes bipolar disorder, and in my opinion needed to be written in order to keep destigmatizing mental illness
Show Less
LibraryThing member commonwealth
An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness by Kay Redfield Jamison (1996)
LibraryThing member campingmomma
I really enjoyed this book and recommend this read for anyone suffering from bipolar or mental illness in general. Because I typically suffer from depression and low grade mania's her success seemed like a load of crap as did her romantic love life; I have to agree with Arctic-stranger on this one,
The book however, minus her personal life, was a very adequate description of what a manic-depressive goes through. I only wish families and friends who have relationships with people who suffer with this illness can read this book and relate to it the way a manic-depressive does. It's all right there, they just can't see it because they don't experience it . It really is all in your head and if it's not even the most educated phychiatrist can never really relate. That is how I know it was real for her.
Show More
I don't think her success and unbelievably supportive romances are typical for most who suffer with this illness.The book however, minus her personal life, was a very adequate description of what a manic-depressive goes through. I only wish families and friends who have relationships with people who suffer with this illness can read this book and relate to it the way a manic-depressive does. It's all right there, they just can't see it because they don't experience it . It really is all in your head and if it's not even the most educated phychiatrist can never really relate. That is how I know it was real for her.
Show Less
LibraryThing member SandraDoran
Kay Jamison is amazingly honest about her struggles with bipolar disorder. What is surprising, however, is not her honesty, but the heights to which she has risen in her personal and professional life. I came away with a new respect for those who battle with some form of mental and emotional
Show More
"illness," both for the courage and energy it takes each day to battle the downsides of the emotional roller-coaster and the levels to which they rise that some of us may never know. Show Less
LibraryThing member Tpoi
I can't believe the author's tenacity (and stubbornness and denial). A brilliant psychologist stricken with on-going serious mental illness, she simply put her head down and persevered whilst suffering. Fairly well-written and with good descriptions of the symptoms and effects, the history of
Show More
morphology and treatment, as well as decent biography. I worried that I would be reading a lucid trainwreck or a surgeon performing on themselves, but that did not in fact play out. Worth reading. Show Less
LibraryThing member lloannna
Pretty good stuff, but the personal details were a little excessive. It's one thing to hear "I self-medicated using sex" and it's another to hear it twenty times with rather more detail than necessary. The author didn't do the best of jobs separating out the uniqueness of her experience from what
Show More
bipolar disorder is generally like at times. Show Less
LibraryThing member coffeesucker
Fascinating and engrossing!
LibraryThing member HadriantheBlind
A cathartic and expressive memoir by someone who has dealt with bipolar disorder. The all-consuming, tireless highs struggle with the dark, depressive, sickly lows. An excellent means of understanding this mental turmoil, how one can achieve the most stunning of successes, while grappling with the
Show More
base desire to stay alive. Show Less
LibraryThing member RCPsychLibrary
a popular book re bipolar. Julie Evans Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust.
LibraryThing member jcopenha
An interesting short read. Having never been around anyone with a mental ilness it was helpful to get an idea of what manic-depression is really like.
LibraryThing member strandbooks
A coworker gave me An Unquiet Mind after reading it for a work book club. It's a memoir published in 1995 chronicling Kay Redfield Jamison's struggle with bipolar/manic depression that began in the 70s. The unique part about this book is that Kay is a well-renowned psychiatrist yet she constantly
The beginning of the book was very chronological but once her illness sets in it jumps around a lot. She mentioned her family having a big part, both negative and positive, in her dealing with her illness but they are rarely mentioned. I'd like to know what happened to her dad and sister. I would definitely read her other books, but they are on other heavy topics so I might put some space between them.
Show More
battled staying on her medication, while at the same time doing everything she could to keep her patients taking theirs. Her writing is raw and poetic.The beginning of the book was very chronological but once her illness sets in it jumps around a lot. She mentioned her family having a big part, both negative and positive, in her dealing with her illness but they are rarely mentioned. I'd like to know what happened to her dad and sister. I would definitely read her other books, but they are on other heavy topics so I might put some space between them.
Show Less
LibraryThing member Calavari
An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness by: Kay Redfield Jamison I had a good friend that was diagnosed with Manic Depressive Disorder and he's the biggest reason this book called out to me when I saw it. I always wondered what was going on in there and what the manias and depressions felt
I thought of him as I listened to the audiobook and Dr. Jamison explain her experience with this same disorder. I worked through all the behaviors that had been mania and depression and the way he never understood the way the medicine was improving his ability to deal with it.
As audiobooks go, this is a rather short one. It's just under three hours and eloquently describes the ups and downs that go with this disorder and the way that it progresses during her lifetime. This isn't remembering just one evolution but several as well as the fears that accompany letting others know that she has it, that she might pass it on to children, having dealt with a parent with this disorder. She includes the feeling of the mania and the aftermath, which is more than the depression that follows it. There are inevitable consequences in life for those things that are done in both manic and depressed states. She doesn't shy away from sharing those. But there is also healing and more to healing than medication and more to taking medication than simply being prescribed it.
Above all, I appreciate that she shared it all and helped the rest of us understand what it is like to be the one that lives with the disorder. It's a beautiful book.
Show More
like. I always thought that understanding would help me interact with him in those states and not agitate him or exacerbate problems. I don't really know, though, he went off the grid after a particularly bad struggle with the whole evolution, of which I was in his circle, and then returned suddenly to social media, having moved away and found a better way to deal with it all then we could have hoped for. I thought of him as I listened to the audiobook and Dr. Jamison explain her experience with this same disorder. I worked through all the behaviors that had been mania and depression and the way he never understood the way the medicine was improving his ability to deal with it.
As audiobooks go, this is a rather short one. It's just under three hours and eloquently describes the ups and downs that go with this disorder and the way that it progresses during her lifetime. This isn't remembering just one evolution but several as well as the fears that accompany letting others know that she has it, that she might pass it on to children, having dealt with a parent with this disorder. She includes the feeling of the mania and the aftermath, which is more than the depression that follows it. There are inevitable consequences in life for those things that are done in both manic and depressed states. She doesn't shy away from sharing those. But there is also healing and more to healing than medication and more to taking medication than simply being prescribed it.
Above all, I appreciate that she shared it all and helped the rest of us understand what it is like to be the one that lives with the disorder. It's a beautiful book.
Show Less
LibraryThing member steadfastreader
Clinical, yet easy enough for the layman to understand. Goes through both the experiences of the trained and obviously very intelligent psychatrist(logist? Can't remember) who is dealing with bi-polar, otherwise known as manic-depressive disorder. Fascinating, but I think it might be especially
Show More
helpful for individuals with the disorder, or people who have family members with the disorder, as in my case. A great read. Show Less
Subjects
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1995
Physical description
240 p.; 5.05 inches
ISBN
0679443746 / 9780679443742