About this title: With this memoir, Jamison, a psychiatrist and pioneer in the field of mood research, revealed her own struggle with manic-depressive, or bipolar, illness. Interspersing humorous descriptions of the strange logic that permeated her manic episodes with haunting recollections of the depressions that would follow, she chronicles her professional journey to understand the biological basics for mood disorders while she was fighting--and hiding--her own.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Description: Good. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Vintage Books USA
Date Published: 1995
ISBN-13:9780679763307ISBN:0679763309
Description: Good. No dust jacket as issued. Cover has wear. Has some general wear. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 240 p. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Vintage Books USA
Date Published: 1995
ISBN-13:9780679763307ISBN:0679763309
Description: Good. No dust jacket as issued. Has a light tilt at the spine. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 240 p. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Vintage
Date Published: 1996-10
ISBN-13:9780679763307ISBN:0679763309
Description: Very Good. Clean pages, no spine or page creases, no writing, minor shelf-wear to cover including a light crease on the front cover and rubbing. read more
Edition: 6th
Binding: Trade Paperback
Publisher: Random House Inc, Westminster, Maryland, U.S.A.
Date Published: 1997
ISBN-13:9780679763307ISBN:0679763309
Description: Very Good. As issued No Jacket. Autobiographical account of Redfield's own battles with Manic Depression Spine lean, corner bumps, a little soiling to the covers, binding split in one place, reading and handling creases to the front cover, soiling to the page edges, and other light to moderate shopwear shopwear. read more
"A very informative and personal account of bi-polar disorder. Not very many technical terms,easy and engrossing to read. I could readily identify with many of the author's symptoms and situations. . Very helpful,even shared passages with my therapist."
"This is another one of those books that I'd always meant to read and never did. It's funny because I remember there being a lot of hullabaloo surrounding the publication, but now, nearly 15 years after the fact, her memoir seems almost derivative. It's odd to think that so many mental-illness-memoirs have come out that one of the pioneering works seems sort of... meh.
Jamison refers to herself as both an academic and a poet, and it shows in her writing. Many of her turns of phrase are exquisitely lyrical, and a number of times I would reread certain phrases, awed by their beauty.Yet at the same time I found a sort of coldness, as if she were retelling the narrative of one of her research subjects rather than baring her own soul.
And occasionally I even found a bit of tone-deafness; love affairs are often all-consuming and life-changing, but really only to those involved. To read about them is sort of tedious. There are two chapters back to back about two different lovers of hers, and I didn't really see the point of either of them (the chapters, that is, except to prove to herself she's still sexually attractive to--according to her--wildly attractive and accomplished men?). And she goes on and on about a textbook she's in the process of writing, which seemed like she was preening, a bit (she admits herself she is as in love with academia as with any other lover in her life).
So...there you have it. Beautifully written, yet with a sort of stiff-armed distancing effect at the same time."
"I just had the opportunity to re-read this book when it was offered on the Kindle, and I was surprised. I seemed to remember it as being immensely insightful the first time I read it, but consider that that was immediately after my husband's initial bipolar 1 diagnosis. This was the first book everyone was recommending back then.
Now, several years of living with a bipolar spouse later, I read it and think, "Meh." I have tremendous respect for Jamison as a leader in this field of study, but I can't figure out what she was going for in this memoir. It seems to have been written more FOR herself than about herself, if that makes sense--it reads as very personal and cathartic.
Is it helpful for others, though? I'm not so sure. There are some wonderful passages in which she borrows from images in poetry and literature, and those, for me, make the book worth reading. But I don't get much of a sense of hope for those dealing with manic-depressive illness, because Jamison's resources were/are simply out of the reach of most of us.
If my husband had access to the level of care that Jamison has enjoyed throughout her life, he'd probably be doing much better. Who WOULDN'T thrive with near-daily psychiatric attention and round-the-clock home care (which, just by the way, is provided by friends/family/lovers, most of whom happen to be practicing psychiatrists)? Heck, I'd like to get in on some of that, myself. As it is, we receive financial assistance from our physicians, to lower our co-pay, so that he can see a therapist (not an MD, but a psychologist) once a week, and even that's a burden. Then there's couples therapy, because this disease puts a mighty strain on a marriage.
As someone in the "caretaker" role, to use Jamison's own terminology, I found the message of the memoir a bit burdensome. Yes, she shows great appreciation for her loved ones and their unflagging support. She also puts ENORMOUS weight on that support as being the key to her success. That only reads as a compliment the first few times, then it becomes a sledge-hammer of obligation and guilt.
I don't know--I'm conflicted this time around. It's a bit of "thank you for being there," and a bit of "but for you, I'd be dead." That's a lot of pressure, gratitude or no."
"This was overrated. I learned very little about what it's like to actually have manic-depression; Dr. Jamison preferred to write about her love life and her visits to England. She glossed over her suicide attempt and the only description of hospitalization is that of one of her patients. Also, the memoir skips back and forth in time and it's irritating. There are better books out there."
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