But in 1961, when she was 15, Jamison's father retired from the Air Force and the family moved to California. In a highly fluid, readable memoir, Jamison wonderfully describes her childhood as an Air Force brat, capturing both the ``romance and discipline'' of military life. The illness began to manifest itself after the delicate balance of her family life was disrupted. Why the refusal? Because, Jamison says, the periods of mild mania, or hypomania, are ``absolutely intoxicating states that gave rise to great personal pleasure, an incomparable flow of thoughts, and a ceaseless energy.'' Jamison now takes her lithium dutifully, however, after being hobbled for years by cycles of extreme mania (sleepless nights, mental chaos, shopping sprees with bills totaling over $30,000) and suicidal depression. Less bitter and defensive than Kate Millett (The Loony-Bin Trip, 1990) in writing of this illness, Jamison has one thing in common with her: the reluctance to take lithium, despite her knowledge as a professional that it would control her extremes of mood. 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.Mood-disorder specialist Jamison (Psychiatry/Johns Hopkins) comes clean about her own mood disorder: manic-depression. While pursuing her career in medicine, she was affected by the same exhilarating highs and catastrophic lows that afflicted many of her patients. 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. 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. 'It stands alone in the literature of manic depression for its bravery, brilliance and beauty.' - Oliver Sacks I was used to my mind being my best friend.
With an introduction by Andrew Solomon, writer and lecturer on psychology and culture. A classic memoir of enormous candour and courage, it teems with the wit and wisdom of its writer, Dr Kay Redfield Jamison.
An Unquiet Mind is a definitive examination of manic depression from both sides: doctor and patient, the healer and the healed.
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