KAY REDFIELD JAMISON

The definitive work on the profound and surprising links between manic-depression and creativity, from the bestselling psychologist of bipolar disorders who wrote An Unquiet Mind.One of the foremost psychologists in America, Kay Jamison is plainly among the few who have a profound understanding of the relationship that exists between art and madness (William Styron).The anguished and volatile intensity associated with the artistic temperament was once thought to be a symptom of genius or eccentricity peculiar to artists, writers, and musicians. Her work, based on her study as a clinical psychologist and researcher in mood disorders, reveals that many artists subject to exalted highs and despairing lows were in fact engaged in a struggle with clinically identifiable manic-depressive illness.Jamison presents proof of the biological foundations of this disease and applies what is known about the illness to the lives and works of some of the worlds greatest artists including Lord Byron, Vincent Van Gogh, and Virginia Woolf.

The anguished and volatile intensity associated with the artistic temperament was once thought to be a symptom of genius or eccentricity peculiar to artists, writers and musicians. Kay Jamison's work, based on her study as a clinical psychologist and researcher in mood disorders, reveals that many artists subject to exalted highs and despairing lows were in fact engaged in a struggle with clinically identifiable manic-depressive illness. Jamison presents proof of the biological foundations of this disease and applies what is known about the illness to the lives and works of some of the world's greatest artists including Byron, Van Gogh, Schumann and Woolf.

Critical reading for parents, educators, and anyone wanting to understand the tragic epidemic of suicidea powerful book [that] will change peoples livesand, doubtless, save a few" (Newsday). The first major book in a quarter century on suicideand its terrible pull on the young in particularNight Falls Fast is tragically timely: suicide has become one of the most common killers of Americans between the ages of fifteen and forty-five. From the author of the best-selling memoir, An Unquiet Mindand an internationally acknowledged authority on depressionDr. Jamison has also known suicide firsthand: after years of struggling with manic-depression, she tried at age twenty-eight to kill herself. Weaving together a historical and scientific exploration of the subject with personal essays on individual suicides, she brings not only her remarkable compassion and literary skill but also all of her knowledge and research to bear on this devastating problem. This is a book that helps us to understand the suicidal mind, to recognize and come to the aid of those at risk, and to comprehend the profound effects on those left behind.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER A deeply powerful memoir about bipolar illness that has both transformed and saved liveswith a new preface by the author. Dr. Jamison is one of the foremost authorities on manic-depressive (bipolar) illness; she has also experienced it firsthand. For even while she was pursuing her career in academic medicine, Jamison found herself succumbing to the same exhilarating highs and catastrophic depressions that afflicted many of her patients, as her disorder launched her into ruinous spending sprees, episodes of violence, and an attempted suicide.Here Jamison examines bipolar illness from the dual perspectives of the healer and the healed, revealing both its terrors and the cruel allure that at times prompted her to resist taking medication.

PULITZER PRIZE FINALIST In this magisterial study of the relationship between illness and art, the best-selling author of An Unquiet Mind, Kay Redfield Jamison, brings an entirely fresh understanding to the work and life of Robert Lowell (1917-1977), whose intense, complex, and personal verse left a lasting mark on the English language and changed the public discourse about private matters.In his poetry, Lowell put his manic-depressive illness (now known as bipolar disorder) into the public domain, and in the process created a new and arresting language for madness. Here Dr. Kay Redfield Jamison brings her expertise in mood disorders to bear on Lowells story, illuminating not only the relationships between mania, depression, and creativity but also how Lowells illness and treatment influenced his work (and often became its subject). A bold, sympathetic account of a poet who wasboth despite and because of mental illnessa passionate, original observer of the human condition.

A penetrating psychological study of grief viewed from deep inside the experience itselffrom the national bestselling author of Unquiet Mind. Kay Redfield Jamison, award-winning professor and writer, changed the way we think about moods and madness. Now Jamison uses her characteristic honesty, wit and eloquence to look back at her relationship with her husband, Richard Wyatt, a renowned scientist who died of cancer.

A national bestselling author examines one of the minds most exalted statesone that is crucially important to learning, risk-taking, social cohesiveness, and survival itself. [Jamison is] that rare writer who can offer a kind of unified field theory of science and art. The Washington Post Book WorldWith the same grace and breadth of learning she brought to her studies of the minds pathologies, Kay Redfield Jamison examines one of its most exalted states: exuberance. This abounding, ebullient, effervescent emotion manifests itself everywhere from childs play to scientific breakthrough.Exuberance: The Passion for Life introduces us to such notably irrepressible types as Teddy Roosevelt, John Muir, and Richard Feynman, as well as Peter Pan, dancing porcupines, and Charles Schulzs Snoopy. It explores whether exuberance can be inherited, parses its neurochemical grammar, and documents the methods people have used to stimulate it. The resulting book is an irresistible fusion of science and soul.

Testemunho pessoal de Kay Redfield Jamison, autoridade internacional em doença maníaco-depressiva e uma das poucas mulheres catedráticas de medicina em universidades norte-americanas. A obra é a revelaço da sua propria luta, desde a adolescencia, com a doença, e de como a doença moldou sua vida.

A NEW YORKER BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR The acclaimed author of An Unquiet Mind considers the age-old quest for relief from psychological pain and the role of the exceptional healer in the journey back to health.To treat, even to cure, is not always to heal. In this expansive cultural history of the treatment and healing of mental suffering, Kay Jamison writes about psychotherapy, what makes a great healer, and the role of imagination and memory in regenerating the mind. From the trauma of the battlefields of the twentieth century, to those who are grieving, depressed, or with otherwise unquiet minds, to her own experience with bipolar illness, Jamison demonstrates how remarkable psychotherapy and other treatments can be when done well.She argues that not only patients but doctors must be healed. She draws on the example of W.H.R. Rivers, the renowned psychiatrist who treated poet Siegfried Sassoon and other World War I soldiers, and discusses the long history of physical treatments for mental illness, as well as the ancient and modern importance of religion, ritual, and myth in healing the mind. She looks at the vital role of artists and writers, as well as exemplary figures, such as Paul Robeson, who have helped to heal us as a people.Fires in the Dark is a beautiful meditation on the quest and adventure of healing the mind, on the power of accompaniment, and the necessity for knowledge.