I
f you do much thinking about moods and how they affect us, you eventually run into Kay Jamison. She has dedicated her life to understanding mood and its impact on us.
She teaches at Johns Hopkins, but she is not just an academic, she is also a brilliant writer and compelling lecturer.
She is the co-author of the best one volume book on bipolar for professionals (and others), entitled Manic-Depressive Illness, and has written a series of more personal books that explore key aspects of bipolar:
- Touched with Fire: Manic-Depressive Illness and the Artistic Temperament. A book about creativity and the connection between artistic genius and bipolar.
- An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Mood and Madness. Her most personal book, about her own struggle with bipolar and how she found a way to overcome and thrive in the midst of psychosis, suicidal preoccupation and mania.
- Night Falls Fast: Understanding Suicide. A book that explores the tragedy but also the powerful fascination of suicide for so many of us with moods.
- Exuberance: The Passion for Life. A unique perspective on the compelling nature of what is known in the scientific literature as “hyperthymia” or “hypomania” – why we need this excitement and passion in our lives.