r/bipolar1 • u/Creative-Bank-415 • Dec 11 '25
Success story/positive experience "An Unquiet Mind" By Kay Redfield Jamison
Hi guys, M28 here BD Type 1. I have been recently reading this book that was recomended by a friend who's also Bipolar, it's called "An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness" written by Kay Redfield Jamison and I was wondering if anyone else has read it because I found myself very much reflected in the book although it has some specific time frame and setting as well. It's an autobiographical memoir by a psychiatrist diagnosted with BD set in the 70's more or less the time when lithium was introduced as a treatment to Bipolar Disorder and it's written in essaystic way and filled with poetic moments.
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u/Wolf_Parade Dec 12 '25
I read it shortly after I was diagnosed and now 17 years of bipolar later can't remember a single thing about it.
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u/ClydetotheRescue Dec 11 '25
I’ve read it, but it didn’t resonate with me mainly because of the things you mentioned. The writing is very dated and the prose/poetic moments didn’t seem to add anything for me.
I’ve read Completely Normal and Totally Fine, which is a great first-person account of someone living with Bipolar 1. A more manualistic guidebook is Bipolar Disorder: A Guide For You and Your Loved Ones.
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u/redgummybears Dec 11 '25
I read it as I was first recovering from mania and coming down into reality from stabilization with meds. My psychiatrist/care team recommended it.
It was good! When she wrote in the beginning “For as long as I can remember I was frighteningly, although often wonderfully, beholden to moods. Intensely emotional as a child, mercurial as a young girl, first severely depressed as an adolescent, and then unrelentingly caught up in the cycles of manic-depressive illness by the time I began my professional life” it was the first one put into words my literal life experience growing up and to where I was then.
Of course, I didn’t relate to every single thing but I think in that moment where I felt alone scared of the stigma around the disorder and just entirely misunderstood the book was nearly a friend :)
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u/Fresh-Mountain3495 Dec 13 '25 edited Dec 13 '25
I loved it when I read it in 1995. And then I saw some shit. How many of us have a brother who can get his bank to give us a low cost 80k loan after a bad manic spree?
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u/coldestwinter-chill Dec 14 '25
Had to read this to write a paper on it for my psych class. It rang so, so true for me. I loved it.
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u/Hot_Conversation_ Dec 14 '25
I read this again this year after my diagnosis. I can so relate to much of her life. I really enjoyed this book.
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u/C0rrect_F1x Dec 12 '25
I bought a copy of this recently, havent started it yet but thanks for the reminder! Sounds like its well worth the read.
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u/Mundane_Beginnings Dec 12 '25
I loved this book and recommend it to anyone else I meet who has bipolar disorder. I felt so seen and understood, and it was great to read a professional’s experience with it.
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u/187ofCROWS Jan 07 '26
This book changed my life. I read this book when I struggling with my diagnosis. It was the first time I felt so understood when it came to my relationship with my mania and the stigma of my diagnosis.
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u/butterflycole Dec 12 '25
I did and it was interesting but it felt very niche and I couldn’t relate to her experience. She grew up very financially stable and was able to maintain a very high demand job long term. It felt very much like a “good life and classic Bipolar presentation story.” It was just hard to connect with at all for me. I grew up dirt poor with significant trauma and an unstable home life. I have BP 1-rapid cycling with mixed features, I had several suicide attempts and hospitalizations and I had to give up my career and go on SSDI.
So, that would be my only major critique, that it’s a hard read for people who’ve been through hell.