Kay Redfield Jamison: Unquiet Mind

BOOK REVIEW OF KAY REDFIELD JAMISON`S "AN UNQUIET MIND
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Kay Redfield Jamison`s "An Unquiet Mind" gives us an amazing view of Bipolar Disorder from the point of views of both doctor and sufferer of the disease. She is an American Clinical Psychologist specializing in Bipolar Disorder as a doctor and also as someone who is manic depressive herself. This book has become a classic in Bipolar Disorder and has become a helpful tool to understand the disease the world over.
Bipolar Disorder is a form of mood disorder characterized by alternating highs and lows of emotions. The highs are frenzied states of emotional energy or mania and the lows are episodes of eating emptiness and depression. Sometimes the highs and lows become mixed and sometimes the patient experiences periods of "normal mood". Dr. Jamison is one who is able to swim through the disorder and not drown in it as she experiences days of boundless creativity which earned her multiple awards and periods of depression and emptiness even to the point of attempting to take her life. This disorder is characterized by periods of high excitement, soaring energy, fast and erratic thought processes, heightened perceptions and flights of fancy to the point of losing practicality. These periods alternate with times of severe depression to the point of disability and paralysis. For Dr. Jamison these low periods led her to spending sprees, violent episodes and thoughts of suicide.
The symptoms of bipolar disorder are found when signs both mania and depression occur. Manic symptoms are: irritable moods, elevated states, euphoria, increased energy, decreased need for sleep, racing thoughts, low attention span, impaired judgment, dangerous behavior, intolerance, aggressive behavior, signs of being "unstoppable", increased sexual drive, and sometimes the sufferer may resort to substance abuse such as drugs and alcohol. For Dr. Jamison these were the periods where she had delusions of being in space as a special person imbued with magical powers. Depressive symptoms on the other hand include sadness, anxiety, anger, guilt, hopelessness, isolation, loss of energy, self pity, indifference, shyness, loss of interest in sex, problems in concentrating, irritability, lack of motivation, and suicidal thoughts. Dr. Jamison came to a point of taking an overdose of Lithium in an attempt to take her own life. She suffered for 30 years living through all the "peculiar kind of pain, elation, loneliness and terror"ADDIN CSL_CITATION { "citationItems" : [ { "id" : "ITEM-1", "itemData" : { "author" : [ { "dropping-particle" : "", "family" : "Jamison", "given" : "Kay Redfield", "non-dropping-particle" : "", "parse-names" : false, "suffix" : "" } ], "id" : "ITEM-1", "issued" : { "date-parts" : [ [ "1995" ] ] }, "publisher" : "Vintage Books", "publisher-place" : "New York", "title" : "An Unquiet Mind", "type" : "book" }, "uris" : [ "/docum...