An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness by Kay Redfield Jamison is Jamison’s personal account of developing both personally and professionally, while struggling with manic-depressive illness. Jamison allows the reader a glimpse into her childhood and adult lives, and the way her impact greatly helped and tremendously hurt her at the same time. She shares her personal feelings of fear of herself, but also fear to ask for help. The account of development with manic-depressive illness is highly subjective, as it is Jamison’s personal account. Certainly, not every person with manic-depressive illness is going to have the exact same experiences as Jamison. Jamison provides many vivid descriptions of her episodes, for example, she characterizes …show more content…
While in remissions, Jamison experienced being a bright student and having the opportunity to participate in various research programs at both University of California-Los Angeles and St. Andrews in Scotland. During her manias, ideas flowed, and she was very successful in writing papers and creating ideas. In her depressions, on the other hand, she explains that she couldn’t seem to think at all. She rarely attended class, and even if she did, she couldn’t pay attention at …show more content…
First and foremost, she shares that “there is a particular kind of pain, elation, loneliness and terror involved in this kind of madness” (67). Although she does attribute some of her successes in life to manic-depressive illness, she makes it clear that her intention is not to glorify the illness. She makes it clear that her manias also came with unhealthy spending habits, and discusses the suicidal thoughts and attempts that came with the darkness of her depressions. She explicitly states that manic-depressive illness “kill[s] tens of thousands of people every year: most are young, most die unnecessarily, and many are among the most imaginative we have as a society” (5). The final part of this statement aligns with the common belief that creativity often comes at the cost of mental stability and
In the magic of the mind author Dr. Elizabeth loftus explains how a witness’s perception of an accident or crime is not always correct because people's memories are often imperfect. “Are we aware of our minds distortions of our past experiences? In most cases, the answer is no.” our minds can change the way we remember what we have seen or heard without realizing it uncertain witnesses “often identify the person who best matches recollection
-Healy David. Mania: A Short History of Bipolar Disorder. The John Hopkins University Press. Baltimore. 2008. Print
Bipolar disorder, also known as manic depression, is a psychopathology that affects approximately 1% of the population. (1) Unlike unipolar disorder, also known as major affective disorder or depression, bipolar disorder is characterized by vacillating between periods of elation (either mania or hypomania) and depression. (1, 2) Bipolar disorder is also not an illness that remedies itself over time; people affected with manic depression are manic-depressives for their entire lives. (2, 3) For this reason, researchers have been struggling to, first, more quickly diagnose the onset of bipolar disorder in a patient and, second, to more effectively treat it. (4) As more and more studies have been performed on this disease, the peculiar occurrence between extreme creativity and manic depression have been uncovered, leaving scientists to deal with yet another puzzling aspect of the psychopathology. (5)
will compare the view and treatment of manic depression in the sixties, to the view and
...t she herself had never suffered from hallucinations, but that she was depressed and mentally unwell for years. She wrote this in hopes that it will help at least one woman in the same position.
A 1949 study of 113 German artists, writers, architects, and composers was one of the first to undertake an extensive, in-depth investigation of both artists and their relatives. Although two-thirds of the 113 artists and writers were "psychically normal," there were more suicides and "insane and neurotic" individuals in the artistic group than could be expected in the general population, with the highest rates of psychiatric abnormality found in poets (50%) and musicians (38%). (1) Many other similar tests revealed th...
...e but that she is also sad and very lonely. Nevertheless, the scene at the end of the movie, showing Rebecca’s death, was inevitable that left me feeling empty, and empathetic towards Rebecca. However, from a clinical view, I am a bit insulted in how the media depicted her disorder as being inhumane and monstrous. On the same note, it disappointed me to see that many viewers would get a misguided impression of the people who suffer from bipolar disorder.
In life we all go through experiences that cause our moods to change for better or for worse. There are times that we experience degrees of great joy and happiness just as other times we experience great sadness and despair. These polar emotional opposites can be brought about by a cornucopia of circumstances such as the joy and excitement of getting married or the birth of a child to the deep sadness and grief over the loss of a loved one or one’s employment. Feelings of joy and feelings of sadness are normal parts of human life. Some however are unfortunate enough to be force to cope with these emotions to the extreme and on a regular basis. Some individuals must further cope with an ever present emotion rollercoaster, switching from one emotional extreme to the next with regularity. This personality disorder is known as bipolar disorder.
Bipolar Disorder is the tendency of manic episodes to alternate with major depressive episodes, like a roller coaster. Barlow, D., Durand, M., Stewart, S., & Lalumière, M., 2014, p. 222. Their moods and relationships are unstable and they usually have a very poor self image, recurrent feelings of emptiness and fear of abandonment. Barlow, D., Durand, M., Stewart, S., & Lalumière, M., 2014, p. 444.
...ve them of their inspiration and interfere with their creativity. It is a thorny, and relatively new, question, and Jamison merely outlines the controversy without offering an opinion on what should be done to rectify the situation, leaving the door open for further research. Mental illness in artists is a fascinating subject, and Jamison does an excellent job of providing a through portrait of many artists who have grappled with manic-depressive disorder, in addition to exploring how these disorders affect creativity and productivity. Jamison also maintains an awareness of the objections to her attempts to draw a correlation
One of the main causes for her insanity is the treatment she is receiving by her husband. Right when the story begins the narrator moves into a home with her husband and new born child to stay for a few
Paris, J. (2004), Psychiatric diagnosis and the bipolar spectrum, in Canadian Psychiatric Association Bulletin, viewed on 28 March 2014, http://ww1.cpa-apc.org:8080/publications/bulletin/currentjune/editorialEn.asp.
Within his lifetime, George has experienced multiple manic and depressive episodes consistent with bipolar I disorder. This diagnosis is possible because George has suffered from at least one manic episode; George has also experienced depressive episodes, which are common, but not required, occurrences in the disorder. The case study describes three different bipolar episodes and indicates that more have occurred. First, George experienced a depressive episode
One can say or try and dissect the brain and try to figure what’s going on inside of it and that’s what Philophers today try to do that. Why is that why must the brain be dissected? This question is raised for the simple fact that Philophers really want to know why whats going on the human brain. This can also go back to “knowing” and believing in something. We will also take a look into emotion with a emphisis on facil expressions. Reading the human face could be a difficult task. Last but not least I will talk about the Philosphy of life and why it is important to have an outreach like that in life, futhermore this has an emphese on belief. Learning a lot this busy semester the topics above will be though out and discussed so that we can get a better understand of each of them.
The link between creativity and mental illnesses is a topic that has been debated for centuries. The great philosophers Plato, Socrates, and Aristotle all discussed the connection as well. Even in today’s society, there is an ever-present stereotype that creative individuals (i.e. poets, writers, artists, designers, etc.) suffer from bouts of depression, mania, or mental illnesses. It is an age-old question: does depression/mania effect creativity? There is a lot of evidence that both supports and denies the truth behind this question. Some researchers believe the link between depression and creativity is strictly genetic while others believe there is none at all. The argument for this discussion will mostly support the argument that creativity is absolutely a result, cause, and remedy of mania. The manic-depressive illnesses discussed in this debate will mostly include bipolar disorder, mania, and depression. However, there are a lot of factors that play a role in this debate. To discuss, we must first define creativity, the creative process, manic-depressive illnesses, and rumination.