Description

‘It stands alone in the literature of manic depression for its bravery, brilliance and beauty’ – Oliver Sacks

An Unquiet Mind is a definitive examination of manic depression from both sides: doctor and patient, the healer and the healed. A classic memoir of enormous candour and courage, it teems with the wit and wisdom of its creator.

Dr Kay Redfield Jamison is one of the foremost authorities on manic depression (bipolar disorder), but she has also experienced its terrors and cruel allure first-hand. While pursuing her career in medicine, she was affected by the same exhilarating highs and catastrophic lows that afflicted many of her patients. From her jubilant childhood to the disquiet that has dominated her adult life, she charts a journey through her own mind, and those of others.

‘Invaluable’ – New York Times Book Review

Publisher Review

It stands alone in the literature of manic depression for its bravery, brilliance and beauty — Oliver Sacks Affecting, honest, touching — Will Self An invaluable memoir of manic depression, at once medically knowledgeable, deeply human and beautifully written . . . Unashamedly honest * New York Times Book Review * Rises to the poetic and has a mystical touch . . . a courageous and fascinating book, a moving account of the life of a remarkable woman * Daily Telegraph * Jamison’s [strength] is the gutsy way she has made her disease her life’s work and in her brilliant ability to convey its joys and its anguish . . . Extraordinary * Washington Post * Harrowing reading but the writer has the wit and the soul of a poet * The Economist * A fiery, passionate, authentic account of the devastation and exaltation, the blindless and illumination of the psychotic experience * Sunday Times *