Kay the Psychiatrist

Although sometimes redundant, I enjoyed the fact that in An Unquiet Mind, Kay Jamison describes manic-depression through the perspective of a psychiatrist and a patient, in a way. Struggling with bi-polar disorder, Kay accounts all the highs and lows that she faced, but also views it from a psychiatric stand point. Seeing that she works with other individuals who suffer from mental disorders while working in the field of medicine, it would be expected for Kay to be understanding of the concept of her mental illness, however the different perspective led her to resist medications (for the most part). I thought it was interesting that it was narrated in two completely opposite sides of the disorder- literally- which provided a better understanding on the disorder.

Kay and David

After reading about David and Kay's relationship i didnt think Kay could push through it and be able to stand on her own. David helped Kay through her illness more then other people did.

Writing Style

I found An Unquiet Mind dull at times on both sides of the spectrum: the need to describe the technicalities of her illness by bullet-pointing events and the flowery language that covered everything in sight. I understand the purpose of it being a "narrative" account, but it seemed a little contrived when the different techniques did not flow into each other. For example, she opens the second part "A Not So Fine Madness" with prose and existential ruminations, questioning what caused her descent into mental illness but transitions straight to her experience in the psychiatry faculty. This method is often used throughout the memoir, causing the style to become repetitive and ultimately disappointing. The perpetual juxtaposition of perception versus perspective was a successful technique at first but saw no variation. That is not to say it was not a fascinating read but her writing style was not unique or memorable.

Leading by Example

I greatly admire Jamison's courage to write about her own experience with manic depression and to open up about many personal hardships she's faced through out her life. Often those suffering from manic depression will not talk about how they are feeling for fear that they will be labeled as crazy by society. Jamison offers solace to those suffering from this illness and shows through her life that it's okay to open up and ask for help. She shows that there are many medication such as lithium and different kinds of therapies that can help keep a manic depressive's life in check. She shows through her own life that manic depression is not the end of one's professional or social life and that ultimatly life will go on for those suffering this illness.

Battling Stigma

One of the most powerful messages I felt Jamison expressed in her writing was the need to battle the stigma held against those battling with depression and mental illness such as manic depressive illness. In the introduction of her book Jamison expresses how too often manic depressive illness and various types of depression are seen as a weakness in one's character and not as an actual illness. Through reading her experience one can see that manic depressive illness, like any other sickness, can affect even the most stable individual. It is not a matter of getting over it and not feeling sad anymore, it is an actual sickness that creeps up on someone and needs to be treated with medicine and therapy. If the stigma against those suffering from manic depression can be lifted than more people will feel comfortable admitting they have this illness and seek out the help they need so that they can recover.

Controlling mental illness

Through out the book we read about Kay's struggles with illness. Everyday is a challenge for her and the medication is the only thing that keeps her in check with reality and its not always 100 percent successful. Kay learned how to control her mental illness by taking the right dosage of lithium and going to her psychotherapist. You cannot overcome a mental illness but you can learn how to control it as Kay did and live a healthy normal life.

Kay's Struggle

Every day was a struggle for Kay. Her mental illness made her life extremely hard and complicated. The medication she took had side effects and the smallest overdose of her medication was toxic. Kay said when she felt better, she would stop taking her medication because she hated the fact that she had to take it. When she would stop taking it, she would get extremely depressed and the cycle would start all over again. The illness made her life very tough.