An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness

Description

I was used to my mind being my best friend. Now, all of a sudden, my mind had turned on me: it mocked me for my vapid enthusiasms; it laughed at all of my foolish plans; it no longer found anything interesting or enjoyable or worthwhile. Dr Kay Redfield Jamison is one of the foremost authorities on manic depression (bipolar disorder) - and has experienced its terrors and cruel allure first-hand. While pursuing her career in medicine, she was affected by the same exhilarating highs and catastrophic lows that afflicted many of her patients. From her jubilant childhood to the disquiet that has dominated her adult life, she charts a journey through her own mind, and those of others. An Unquiet Mind is a definitive examination of manic depression from both sides: doctor and patient, the healer and the healed. A classic memoir of enormous candour and courage, it teems with the wit and wisdom of its creator.

Kay Redfield Jamison is Professor of Psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine as well as Honorary Professor of English at the University of St Andrews in Scotland. She is the author of An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness, Touched with Fire: Manic-Depressive Illness and the Artistic Temperament, Manic-Depressive Illness (with F. Goodwin) and Night Falls Fast: Understanding Suicide. She is the recipient of numerous national and international scientific awards, was distinguished lecturer at Harvard University in 2002 and the Litchfield lecturer at the University of Oxford in 2003. She is a John P. and Catherine T. MacArthur Fellow.

It stands alone in the literature of manic depression for its bravery, brilliance and beauty -- Oliver Sacks Affecting, honest, touching -- Will Self An invaluable memoir of manic depression, at once medically knowledgeable, deeply human and beautifully written . . . Unashamedly honest * New York Times Book Review * Rises to the poetic and has a mystical touch . . . a courageous and fascinating book, a moving account of the life of a remarkable woman * Daily Telegraph * Jamison's [strength] is 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 * Harrowing reading but the writer has the wit and the soul of a poet * The Economist *