“An Unquiet Mind” written by Kay Jamison (photo by Anna Smith)
I have been meaning to read “An Unquiet Mind” by Kay Jamison for years. Recently, I finally decided to stop putting it off and got it out of the library. I was blown away not just by her story but also by her writing. This is a woman who knows how to use her words. There are moments in her memoir that sound more like poetry than prose. She writes about her struggle with manic-depressive disorder, a disorder that is now termed Bipolar Disorder. Bipolar disorder is characterized by drastic shifts in mood from mania to depression. Jamison writes about her military childhood and the culture surrounding military life, the bond it creates for those who live in it. Her military background forms a big part of her life and character. It also leads to her jarring transition when she first experiences school outside of the military.
Jamison talks about her relationships with her father, mother and siblings. She describes the stabilizing influence of her mother and brother and the difficulty her sister and father had with moods before she begins the truly amazing story of her own brush with madness. Her life is a whirlwind of moods, intellectual pursuits, academic drive and general interests. Her mental illness takes her to the heights of her mania, which brought on massive spending sprees and other actions associated with mania, to the suicidal depths of depression.
Jamison experiences heartache, joy, love, loss, gain and so much more. As a psychiatrist and clinician, she explores and talks about her fear of talking about her illness for fear that she would lose her clinical privileges, and so publishing this memoir was a huge deal for her. She does an amazing job talking about her struggle with the illness and the difficulty talking to people about her experiences. If you are interested in the mental illness or love memoirs or beautiful writing, then this is a book for you!