Kay R. Jamison - An Unquiet Mind

Pros: An excellent book by someone who has been there.
Cons: None.

Kay Redfield Jamison in her penetrating book, "An Unquiet Mind," gives a remarkable and very personal testimony of her own struggles with manic-depression and how it has shaped her life.

In her prologue Jamison explains her concerns about...

Pros: often poetic account from a woman who has seen manic-depressive illness personally and medically
Cons: none

An Unquiet Mind; A memoir of Moods and Madness is an excellent book written with a poetic honesty that almost anyone will find intriguing. The author, Kay Redfield Jamison, is Professor of Psychiatry at the John Hopkins University School of Medicine who...

Pros: Brutally Honest.
Cons: None

I was diagnosed as being Bi-Polar 3 years ago. I fought it tooth and nail. I denied it, I did everything I could to not believe it. I felt diseased, flawed, hopeless. In the course of finally having a diagnosis, I was prescribed just about every...

Pros: Detailed Accounting of Episodes and Lithium Struggles - Nothing Held Back
Cons: May Scare Some

Although the author Dr. Kay Redfield Jamison is a well-respected Professor of Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins, this “unmedical” book offers very little information on treatments and focuses solely on her own journey and personal struggles with...

Pros: fast read, compelling, all sorts of insights into the illness
Cons: you will run the gamut with your emotions

I had to read An Unquiet Mind for my Psycho-Social class at Northwestern and write a paper about it. This is the paper that I wrote on the book. In short, this is a great book to read-- and I don't usually like reading. If you're the kind of ...

Pros: Concise Honest Emotionally Moving
Cons: May take some knowledge of psychology and accompanying language to truly understand.

Originally written in 1995, Dr. Kay Redfield Jamison's memoirs of life with manic depression touch both the mind and the heart of the reader. Pulling no punches, Dr. Jamison doesn't hesitate to show the psychotic depths she went to, along with the manic...

Pros: lucid treatment of the illness; exaggerations or myths
Cons: a little dry at times

Kay Redfield Jamison provides us with a lucid view of a very un-lucid disease in her book, "An Unquiet Mind." And it's about time. In a culture and world where mental illness is denied, ignored, feared, discriminated against, not seen,...

Pros: Superb account of living with Bipolar Illness
Cons: Some parts could be considered frightening

A seemingly complex topic is covered with empathy and clarity. This book is an excellent resource for anyone suffering from Bipolar illness, and a necessity for anyone who has a loved one living this madness.

This book is a first hand look...

Pros: Honest, detailed and thorough account of a mental illness
Cons: sometimes dull

Our society places a huge stigma on people who suffer from mental illnesses. What drew me to this book was that it was written by a sufferer of manic-depressive disorder which can be debilitating and hard to treat. This alone is interesting, but the ...

Pros: Effective depth of subject. Easy plot and themes to follow.
Cons: Inadequate prose. Memoir lacks personality, reads more like a textbook than a personal story.

An Unquiet Mind describes an educated woman's struggle with the mental illness known as manic depression. The reader sees through the eyes of the author as she experiences manic highs-buying 10 snake bite kits at a drug store, convinced she will...

Pros: a very helpful, very necessary book
Cons: none

Kay Refield Jamison has written a very important book on an illness that very few people understand. This is an illness that affects many people and the reality of the matter is that many of the people do not even realize that they have an illness.
...

Pros: Descriptive, Powerful imagery
Cons: None that I can think of!

I am impressed. Kay Redfield Jamison writes poetically, graphically, and beautifully. I first expected this to be a rather technical novel on Bipolar Illness, but instead I was suprised by the perfect illustration of moods and emotions of one who...

Pros: Insight look at mental illnesses
Cons: none

This Autobiography of an Pyschriatrist chronicles her own real life struggles dealing with an mental illness-Bipolar Disorder or Maniac Depression in laymen's terms. This insight book tells of the obstacles
that persons with mental illnesses face...

Pros: well established facts
Cons: none

I am the mother of a bi-polar child. When he first was diagnosised with it, I read every book that I could find on it.
Though I had worked as a mental health counselor before his diagnosis, I had only worked with adults not children, so I was in...

Pros: It's vivid, enlightening and extremely well-written.
Cons: The topic can be painful at times.

I started to write "I wanted to read this book because.." but I really didn't want to read this book, I "needed" to find out what Dr Jamison had to say. Like many people, I had seen manic depression create havoc in the life of someone...