An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness Paperback – October 1, 1996

I had never known someone with serious mental illness until recently. I was led to this book when a dearly beloved young woman who is very intelligent, creative, vivacious and warm suddenly (at least as far as we knew) experienced the dark side of being bipolar. It has been sad, frightening, enlightening, and hopeful – she now seems to be comfortable and in control of her life.In the last few months, when I have occasionally happened to mention our concern to friends, I have discovered that several people could understand far more than I would have expected since they too had been through this – were going through it because the battle is never completely won – and could offer valuable understanding, advice, and hope, and the warning that the medication must never, ever stop, no matter how tempting that is or how little at any time it seems to be needed. Over and over.I’ve never met a psychiatrist except one whose house I sold.But the experiences of this exceptional psychiatrist who writes so movingly of her experiences of mania and depression help me understand and feel even more concern and sympathy for a young woman whom I love deeply who is learning to cope with being bipolar. Like Jamison, and the people I know who have some kind of mental illness, she is exceptionally smart, creative, enthusiastic, and the various manifestations of her disease are alternately frightening, frustrating, painful and hopeful for those who love her and would do anything to help her stay within the range of emotions that she can control and that enable her to balance her life.Just as the pediatrician whose child has Downs syndrome, the radiologist whose wife has breast cancer, the psychiatrist who is bipolar is in a unique position to understand and treat others who face what she has faced, fought and come to grips with.This book is memorable and I strongly recommend it on several counts. People who are bipolar, people who want to help them, medical professionals, and anyone needs to re-evaluate their perceptions about mental illness so that the stigmas can be outweighed by compassion and understanding that with appropriate treatment and if necessary supervision, people can cope and have productive lives, and even make enormous contributions.Dr. Jamison makes a valuable contribution to understanding in this book and It’s one of those I will buy in multiple copies to share

loved this book with all my heart, she really shares all aspects of her life with bi-polar disorder 10/10 recommend reading.

Recommended by a therapist. I enjoyed the book, but it somehow left me "disappointed". Agree with others that she could have written more about actually living with the disorder, and how difficult it can be. I would also like a layman's description of the mechanism of action of lithium, at least as believed at that time. I guess it made me feel more confident about people dx with bp exposing themselves, for the greater good of the community. It didn't make me confident to put that on any school applications though.Her environment was perfect. Perfect access to mental health care, competent psychiatrists, that are generally inadequately available to the general public. Her side effects of vomiting, etc.... that might be worse for people with BP type 2 than the actual disorder itself? She can't say though because she had very severe BP type 1.She went way overboard with the descriptiveness. I guess she was trying to make a metaphor of mania/depression though.I agree that this may be more useful to family members.I really liked this review:"I'm still not quite sure what I think of this book. It was recommended to me by a therapist thinking I would be interested as someone with bipolar disorder. Due to the source of the suggestion and the author of the book, an expert on and individual with bipolar disorder, I expected some practical insight into living with this disease. What I found was much different.This book is labeled a memoir, and the writing style and content certainly fit the label. Unfortunately, the author seemed to try too hard, and quite unsuccessfully, to become a writer of creative non-fiction. This frustrated me extremely and made it difficult to actually finish the book. Still, I tend to be unnecessarily harsh when it comes to writing skills. My inner lit snob simply won't shut up.What seriously complicates my opinion of this book, however, is whether the author intended to give hope to individuals with bipolar depression. As previously mentioned, I expected just that from this book based on its presentation to me. Instead, I found myself wanting the author to remember more clearly how difficult it sometimes is for a person with bipolar disorder to see a way out. I found myself highly skeptical of the author's management of the illness considering her unlimited access to psychiatric treatment and information from experts.I think this book may be more useful to friends and family of people with bipolar disorder than those trying to dig their way out from mania or depression. I guess I like what this book tries to do, but I'm not convinced it was well done."

This book was required for a counseling class that I am taking and it perfectly encapsulated the intricate meanings and struggles that come in relation to manic depressive disorder. The book was full of love, excitement, sadness, and overall a sense of fullness and ease. Would definitely recommend to other individuals who are interested in learning more about illnesses relating to depression or the DSM-5! It was a beautiful story, carried strong key points, and made the reader engage in sonder.