Amazon.com Review In Touched with Fire, Kay Redfield Jamison, a psychiatrist, turned a mirror on the creativity so often associated with mental illness. In this book she turns that mirror on herself. With breathtaking honesty she tells of her own manic depression, the bitter costs of her illness, and its paradoxical benefits: "There is a particular kind of pain, elation, loneliness and terror involved in this kind of madness.... It will never end, for madness carves its own reality." This is one of the best scientific autobiographies ever written, a combination of clarity, truth, and insight into human character. "We are all, as Byron put it, differently organized," Jamison writes. "We each move within the restraints of our temperament and live up only partially to its possibilities." Jamison's ability to live fully within her limitations is an inspiration to her fellow mortals, whatever our particular burdens may be. --Mary Ellen Curtin
Product Description 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.
Too cerebral and tediousNovember 13, 2008 1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Right from the start, I did not find this book engaging. Unlike The Quiet Room: A Journey Out of the Torment of Madness which I have recently read and in which your heart absolutely breaks for the author, Ms. Jamison tends to recount her experiences with the cold, clinical eye of science, rather than expressing in what way her illness affects her feelings.
This book reads like a thesis paper. Ms. Jamison "reports" on her illness, with no emotion behind the words. Even as she talks about the death of one of her patients as well as her own suicide attempt and resultant coma, the words are cold and critical, making it hard to empathize with her.
As you read, she suddenly throws in statements such as "I was married by then," and "I was seeing patients by then." There was no mention up to that point that she was even dating someone, or that she was building a client base. I would think there would be some emotional account leading up to these milestones, describing what part her illness played in these important events, but they seem to be an afterthought.
She constantly provides lists of activities and accomplishments. A great deal of the book centers around her research and treatment of patients, and her fears seem to revolve only around whether or not she may be forced to give up her clinical practice and teaching if "found out," rather than providing any details as to how her illness directly affected her otherwise.
I feel she oversimplifies a complex illness which manifests in many different forms. She repeatedly overuses the word "madness," and at one point even uses the phrase "being crazy," which I find totally unsympathetic, especially for someone suffering from the illness. I believe this has unpleasant connotations, and contributes to societal stigma and misunderstanding.
A typical sentence: "In the cold light of day, however, the reality and destructiveness of rekindled illness tend to dampen the evocativeness of such selectively remembered, wistful, intense, and gentle moments." A bit too cerebral for me, bordering on what I might call "difficult to follow." She quotes Eliot, Byron, Melville and Lowell, among others, with whom the casual reader may not be entirely familiar (I am referring to myself).
This account does to some degree open a window into the world of bipolar disorder, but it left me cold without much new understanding into the emotions of the sufferer. It's definitely not the most moving or poignant account I've read about living with this type of illness. It's worth a look, but it's not the first book someone trying to understand this illness needs on his or her shelf.
An Unquiet MindOctober 23, 2008 Kay Redfield Jamison's personal account of suffering from the relentless manic-depressive illness is extremely powerful. Jamison uses unique storytelling techniques to display the disorder in a very accurate light. What may initially seem monotonously repetitive turns out to be Jamison's use of the cycles of repetition in the portrayal of the true nature of manic-depression. Without pausing to think, readers may find the vicious cycle--depression, lithium, stop lithium, depression--to represent a boring storyline; however, after considering this cycle's role in the illness, one should realize its importance to the very essence of its representation.
Jamison opened my eyes to an aspect of manic-depression that I had never before considered; despite the terrible feelings that "black" episodes of depression induce in those suffering from the illness, they are often reluctant to give up the omnipotent feelings they achieve during manic episodes. Upon simply knowing that fact, I might not be convinced that the positives outweigh the negatives. Jamison uses such vivid language to describe the wonderful aspects of mania, however, which puts me, the reader, into the position of manic-depressive people when they are faced with the option to trade in these feelings in order to reduce the feelings of depression. Had the descriptions been only of the depressions, it would seem as though one should want to do anything to eliminate those feelings; however, after reading about the intoxicating feelings, the impossibly productive urges, it is clearer why treating the manias along with the depressions would be a great sacrifice.
Jamison's representations of her relationships with others are essential to both her writing style and the understanding of her experience with the illness. While many writers use somewhat descriptive sex scenes to define relationships with love interests, Jamison tends to only subtly allude to sex, rather than describing the event of it. Jamison describes a scene where she is with David, the man I perceived to be Jamison's deepest love interest throughout the memoir. The two are on a walk together, when David stops to catch his breath. Jamison then proceeds to note David's comment that he had been "getting too much exercise at night," but leaves the reference at that. Someone who is not alert to the possibility of a sexual relationship between the two characters might not even make note of the reference, which seems preferable to the bluntness of a graphic sex scene. This is one of the slim selection of mentions of sex at all throughout the book, and they do not become significantly more obvious than this one.
In the past, I didn't have a particularly clear understanding of the illness; I didn't understand things like why people with this illness stop taking their lithium, why they don't get help--the problem was that I didn't realize how truly out of control the patients' lives become.
Kay Jamisons credentialsSeptember 29, 2008 I'd just like to correct something is one of the reviews.
Kay Jamison is not a psychiatrist. She is a psychologist who heads a psychiatric department. If you have read this book, you know that.
I've read over a dozen books on Bipolar Disorder. Being Bipolar myself, I really felt a kinship with Kay. My family also read this book and tell me that they now have a better understanding of my illness.
A very good book.
Really Helps to UnderstandSeptember 8, 2008 Like others, I came away from this book with a far greater understanding, and more sympathetic view of those people in my life who suffer with manic-depression. I have good friends and cousins who wrestle with this disease, and though I tried to empathize, of course I couldn't.
The one question I have, though, is that I thought people with manic depression who are on lithium should NOT drink alcohol? Certainly, the good doctor doesn't sound like an alcoholic, but there's plenty of mention of drinking... someone, please set me straight...
An interesting read.September 6, 2008 This was the first stand alone book on Bipolar I have read, and the only one most of my family has read. It is based on the lived experiences of a Bipolar I sufferer (lack of a better word). Kay is a good writter but gets bogged down in accademia speak which is a bit distracting. Unlike the text book she has co written, in comparison, this is easy to read. I still sugest you read it, and keep it on your book shelf, as it promotes bipolar as something normal inteligent successful people can have, instead of the stigma that all people with Bipolar are stupid and dangerous.
