An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness

Mental Health (61 items)
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read in 2013 (7 items)
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2012's Read List (36 items)
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books (41 items)
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This is the memoir of a woman who suffers from manic-depressive illness, who also happens to have a Ph.D. in psychology. While I do have a literary obsession with memoirs written by so-called 'crazy girls' [i.e. Wurtzel, Kaysen], I consider this to probably be the best of its genre. For Kay is not just a patient with bipolar disorder, but she is also at the forefront of research into it. She discu... read more

Description: 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. &quot 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

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