In her bestselling
classic, An Unquiet Mind, Kay Redfield Jamison changed the way we
think about moods and madness.
Dr. Jamison is one
of the foremost authorities on manic-depressive (bipolar) illness;
she has also experienced it firsthand. For even while she was
pursuing her career in academic medicine, Jamison found herself
succumbing to the same exhilarating highs and catastrophic
depressions that afflicted many of her patients, as her disorder
launched her into ruinous spending sprees, episodes of violence, and
an attempted suicide.
Here Jamison
examines bipolar illness from the dual perspectives of the healer and
the healed, revealing both its terrors and the cruel allure that at
times prompted her to resist taking medication. An Unquiet Mind is a
memoir of enormous candor, vividness, and wisdom—a deeply powerful
book that has both transformed and saved lives.