1. One of the rules that author Kay Redfield Jamison lists “for the gracious acceptance of Lithium into your life” in Unquiet Mind is: “Accommodate to a certain lack of enthusiasm and bounce that you once had. Try not to think about all the wild nights you once had. Probably best not to have had those nights anyway” (p. 98). She, throughout the book, mentions enjoying the manic episodes she experienced for they were when she felt the most productive and most confident. It was during her manic episodes that she would best be able to focus, concentrate, and productively take part in so many different activities. These intense feelings of being extraordinary are one of the reasons why so many people suffering from manic depressive disorder refuse
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Dr. Jamison describes her bouts with mania as chaotic and sometimes even psychotic. She explains in great detail how she was “ravingly psychotic” within three months of becoming a professor (p. 63). Even though she worked long hours with barely any sleep, her mind would always be in overdrive, “as ideas were coming so fast.... the more [she] tried to slow down [her] thinking, the more [she] became aware that [she] couldn’t” (p. 72). Dr. Jamison gives the example of her photocopying frenzy, in which she made 40 copies of articles and a poem to pass around to her coworkers as she suddenly believed these readings would be relevant to their work. She separated from her husband, rented a modern apartment even though she hated modern architecture, and bought modern furniture even though she loved old-fashioned things (p. 73). Dr. Jamison also gives the example of her purchasing all the snakebite kits from the pharmacy as she believed she was chosen by God to alert the world of the danger of killer rattlesnakes. These experiences explain the severity and danger of her manic episodes: her thoughts were so fast she “couldn’t remember the beginning of a sentence halfway through” (p. 82). Her failed efforts to control her thoughts even led her to contemplate suicide. Her manic episodes would always follow by severe bouts of depression PAGE
Dr. Jamison describes her bouts with mania as chaotic and sometimes even psychotic. She explains in great detail how she was “ravingly psychotic” within three months of becoming a professor (p. 63). Even though she worked long hours with barely any sleep, her mind would always be in overdrive, “as ideas were coming so fast.... the more [she] tried to slow down [her] thinking, the more [she] became aware that [she] couldn’t” (p. 72). Dr. Jamison gives the example of her photocopying frenzy, in which she made 40 copies of articles and a poem to pass around to her coworkers as she suddenly believed these readings would be relevant to their work. She separated from her husband, rented a modern apartment even though she hated modern architecture, and bought modern furniture even though she loved old-fashioned things (p. 73). Dr. Jamison also gives the example of her purchasing all the snakebite kits from the pharmacy as she believed she was chosen by God to alert the world of the danger of killer rattlesnakes. These experiences explain the severity and danger of her manic episodes: her thoughts were so fast she “couldn’t remember the beginning of a sentence halfway through” (p. 82). Her failed efforts to control her thoughts even led her to contemplate suicide. Her manic episodes would always follow by severe bouts of depression PAGE