An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods & Madness
By: Kay Redfield Jamison
Reviewed by Joan Groff, M.A.
A client recently gave me this very captivating book so I would better understand something of her journey into the world of mood disorders. Mood disorders have a whole range of severity. If left untreated, they can cause, at best great suffering and, at worst, be fatal – as persons who are afflicted without treatment by medication and therapy frequently commit suicide.
Kay Jamison is a Professor of Psychiatry at John Hopkins School of Medicine and takes us through her maze of manic/depressive illness also known as bi-polar disorder. She has known the heights of creativity and exhilaration. The high at first seemed wonderfully breath-taking but eventually led to exhaustion, a racing mind that knows no bounds, and eventually led to the underworld of deep dark depression that seemed unbearable.
Her journey begins in childhood where she is very aware of her heightened sense of wonder, beauty and sounds. Through her teen years she became more aware of her dad’s darkening moods. We are taken on a roller coaster ride through undergraduate and graduate school where she experienced her boundless energy and night-long forays into endless discussions and study. This is wonderful but frightening as she realizes more and more she is out of control and fears going mad.
Dr. Jamison eventually sought medication and treatment as more of her colleagues and friends could no longer keep up with her hectic pace. This was back in the 70’s when lithium was the only drug doctors had discovered that could restore the patient to some form of normalcy. But like many who suffer from this disease, Kay Jamison would not stay on lithium and lose, she thought, her wonderfully creative mind. She, thus, soon returned to her chaotic world only in a more severe state.
She came to realize that if she were to continue her work as a Professor in UCLA’s Department of Psychiatry and later as director for their Mood Disorders Clinic, she needed to do something about her own disease process. She found a psychiatrist with whom she felt safe and who tried to insist on her being faithful to medication. Like many patients with more severe mood disorders she thought she could make it on her own which ended in a suicidal attempt.
The author takes us through the medical breakthroughs in treating this disease in a humorous, non-pedantic way so that any lay person or clinician can follow the road she travels and easily accompanies her. Her disease process was instrumental in ending her first marriage when her spouse could no longer tolerate her mood swings but she acknowledges the importance of his kindness and love. She found love twice more in her life and recognizes the importance of love and understanding in the healing process as well as the medication and therapy. Her family, colleagues, and friends stood by her for the most part through the lightness and deep darkness of the disease.
Persons with mood disorders of any degree can take heart from this very readable and enticing book. I found it hard to put down, not only because Dr. Jamison is an excellent writer, but also I thought of the many clients over the years who have had the courage to come to therapy and to get a psychiatric consult for medication. They were willing to endure the sometimes unpleasant side effects of the medication that helped them cope. As with Dr. Jamison, the treatments restored them to feeling a sense of normalcy. Mood disorders, whether very severe and repetitious as was hers or a one-time experience, can be frightening but all are very treatable. The importance of therapy, of finding someone with whom you feel safe and are able to journey into the depths of your darkness or, as in the case of manic/depressive illness, into the wildly chaotic world of light that blinds, cannot be overly stressed. Therapy and medication have saved many lives and restored hope to suffering individuals. As the client who gave me the book had hoped, I feel I did understand better where she had been.
Please call if you suffer from mood disorders or any other form of mental illness. Our therapists are trained and licensed to help you and will meet you with kindness, compassion, consistency and, when necessary, firmness.
Reprinted with permission from PPImprints, the Journal of The Professional Pastoral-Counseling Institute, Inc. To be notified when PPImprints is published, please register.
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