A fascinating account. For a remarkably candid book that gives an intimate look into the life of a...

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	• An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness Kay Redfield Jamison Vintage, 1996 - 240 pages average customer review:based on 321 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

An unquiet mind

It is a very informative book if you want to understand the personal experience of someone with Bipolar illness.

A fascinating account. For a remarkably candid book that gives an intimate look into the life of a brilliant PSYCHIATRIST

I recommend That's How the Light Gets In: Memoir of a Psychiatrist by Susan Rako, M.D. The title comes from a song by Leonard Cohen: "There is a crack, a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in." Rako's book is really a fascinating -- and inspiring - read. The writing simply flows.

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Never give it to a manic-depressive sufferer to read!!

An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness

Having two close relatives with manic-depressive illness, I felt rather compelled to read this title. Moreover, two good acquaintances of mine recommended me to examine it. It turned out to be a great and insightful experience that let me be cognizant of the turmoil that manic-depressive sufferers have to deal with. Dr. Kay Jamison does a superb job at describing the symptoms of this illness and pinpoints the reasons behind its sufferers trying to avoid taking their medication:

First, as Jamison emphasizes, the disease is a hereditary ailment that she inherited from her father. It almost leads one to believe that manic-depressives should not have offspring. This disadvantage is, from my humble opinion and experience, offset by the true love and dedication that these sufferers have for their nieces and nephews as Jamison emphasizes in her work.

Second, the intermittent manic episodes and subsequent depressions make life, on the one hand delightful, and in the other hand dreadful. The manic episodes, she recalls, giving her energy, creativity, more that active sexual life, shopping sprees, and enjoyment in general. The depressions were dreadful, were she could not get out of her bed, enjoy "normal life", and even, at one time, attempted suicide taking an overdose of Lithium.

Third, Jamison was prescribed Lithium for her illnesses, which made her lack concentration, not being able to read or write, not performing well in sports, missing her manic episodes, and severe forms of intoxication. However, Lithium worked for her, so as did the wonderful psychiatrist that she was seeing, her psychotherapy, her incomparable physician friends and loving relationships- including her wonderfully involved family. Later on, she was lowered her dose of the medication to a more accurate one, and was able to continue with an extremely normal life. She emphasizes emphatically the reasons behind why sufferers want to stop taking their medications, albeit they are the rationale behind their wellness.

Being a clinical physician herself, and teaching about mood disorders at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, she was quite uneasy about letting others know about her ailment. Nevertheless, she had the will to do it, and here in this title are the results. Of course, because she was immersed in the psychiatric arena, she had a lot of medical support from physician friends and never in her life went into a psychiatry hospitalization ward, which is utterly common in manic-depressive sufferers.

This is a title a will recommend to relatives, friends and acquaintances of Bipolar I disorder sufferers, but which would never be given to read to a manic-depressive itself.

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Just what I needed

As someone who has only recently been diagnosed, reading this book helped me feel less alone. Because the author so clearly describes her experiences and her feelings about them, it has also helped me better understand which of my symptoms may be attributed to this illness versus other conditions and recognize things that I never thought were out of the norm.

reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

As a founder of UCLA's Affective Disorder Clinic and a co-author of a standard medical text, Dr. Kay Redfield Jamison may be the foremost authority on manic-depressive illness. She is also one of its survivors. And it is this dual perspective -- as healer and healed -- that makes Jamison's memoir so lucid, learned, and profoundly affecting.

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.

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