This work is a personal testimony from Kay Redfield Jamison: the revelation of her struggle with manic depression since adolescence, and how it has shaped her life. The book follows her through college, a love affair, her battle with the illness, bouts of madness, violence and attempted suicide.
From Kay Redfield Jamison - an international authority on manic-depressive illness, and one of the few women who are full professors of medicine at American Universities - a remarkable personal testimony: the revelation of her own struggle since adolescence with manic depression, and how it shaped her life. With vivid prose and wit, she takes us into the fascinating and dangerous territory of this form of madness - a world in which one pole can be the alluring dark land ruled by what Byron called the "melancholy star of the imagination," and the other a desert of depression and, all too frequently, death.
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 / 5.0
Important message:
This author discusses a difficult topic which has many unrelated symptoms. She pulls it all together through her own difficult life long struggle and makes it a valuable resource for understanding this confusing mental health issue. Also, she further explains this issue on Charlie Rose's series on the the Brain. Expisode #9.
Hi Sis, I am Bipolar:
After being diagnosed I called my sister and blurted it out. Her reply? "Finally, we all knew that, now you do." Researching the disease, I came across this book. It helped me beyond any words I can conjure up. If more of the public would read this book, the stigma behind being bipolar would cease.
Keep looking, there must be something better.:
This was required reading for my psy. class and it's the only reason I read it. My text book did a better job of explaining bipolar spectrum disorder than this book did. If you want to know about affairs, poetry and self love, etc. get this, otherwise move on. What a shame.
Timely and great!:
This book was recommended to my family by a therapist. She said we needed to own it, so I went to Amazon. The book was well worth purchasing and it came super fast. Wonderful copy and a great value.
