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The Bitter-Sweet Journey of An Unquiet Mind

Navya Kapoor

In her memoir, An Unquiet Mind, Kay Redfield Jamison walks the readers through her bitter-sweet experiences—full of pain, terror, love and support—of having manic-depressive disorder. From her life as a teenage girl to a grown up, successful working woman, she describes her struggle with the invigorating highs of her manic episodes and the dreadful lows of her depressive phases. Reading the DSM V criteria and assessing the various symptoms of a mental disorder is not as impactful as reading a case study and seeing a mental disorder come to life.
            I chose this book for my blogpost because it raises some common yet salient questions about people with mental disorders. One of such questions is if they can competently take up their work responsibilities, especially in the field of medicine (Solomon, 2015). Jamison pursued a career in the field of psychology and became a successful clinical psychologist, psychiatrist, and graduate lecturer. As mentioned by Andrew Solomon in his introduction to the book, Jamison succeeded not despite her disorder but as a consequence of it. Her experiences of manic-depressive disorder provided her with an insider’s perspective of the disorder, which she used to her advantage. From her first-hand experience, she realized the importance of both medicine and psychotherapy in the rehabilitation process and used her experiences to give lectures to medical staff. It also allowed her a unique and profound discernment of her patients’ symptoms and their reasons to resist the treatment. Her experience with the disorder markedly motivated her to pursue the profession, thereby helping others who may be going through similar struggles.
            However, the fear of her disorder interfering with her clinical judgment constantly loomed over her head. She made her best efforts to ensure that her disorder does not have a negative impact on her patients’ well-being. She informed her colleagues and seniors in the staff about her disorder, asked them to remove her from her duties whenever they doubted her judgment, and even cancelled or rescheduled appointments whenever she deemed necessary. However, the questions that struck me were: can frequent rescheduling hinder the process of therapy? Is it possible for every clinician to be equally divorced of their own symptoms while they are treating their patients? In such cases, another important factor that influences the efficacy of a clinician’s practice is the type of mental disorder they have and the corresponding symptoms. For example, a disorder like schizophrenia would include different categories of delusions, which could seriously effect one’s clinical judgment.
The question of whether a person with a mental disorder should be allowed to practice medicine or not is a sensitive one. Restraining them from practicing medicine would be discriminating against them but at the same time, several patient’s well-being and in many situations, patients’ lives are dependent upon them. As mentioned by her in the book, Jamison “ha[s] been both fortunate and careful” (p. 207) and she has shown that a person with manic-depressive disorder can not only manage their symptoms, but can also succeed with them. Nonetheless, the larger question of the feasibility of all persons with different types of mental disorders to practice medicine remains unresolved. I think this is a sensitive yet an essential issue which is why it would be fruitful to invest into research on it.
            Another related issue brought up in the book is the stigma associated with seeking help by clinicians. Even though seeking therapy by a clinician is distinct from forming a career in medicine by a person with mental disorder, the two are inter-connected. This is because clinicians deal with high intensity of emotions on a regular basis, which makes them vulnerable to emotional disturbances. These disturbances have even taken the form of mood disorders and in many cases, lead to suicide (Jamison, 1995). Due to the stigma attached to seeking help by a clinician, clinicians often prescribe anti-depressants to themselves, which can have catastrophic outcomes. The risk that untreated clinicians and other staff pose to their patients needs to recognized and seeking help for them needs to be normalized.
Jamison also brings forth the issues of self-stigma and self-unawareness. Despite being well-versed with various mental disorders and their symptoms, Jamison does not initially think of her behavior as abnormal, denying herself treatment for the first ten years of not feeling fine. Surprisingly, her significant amount of work in the field and understanding of the stigma associated with mental health does not dissuade her from being harsh on herself and experiencing feelings of shame, guilt, and inadequacy for developing the disorder (Jamison, 1995). Thus, I don’t think previous knowledge about mental health and the stigma attached to it always correlate positively with awareness about one’s own ill mental health. I think at one point it boils down to the need to be normal and fit in with other people around us.
This book not only raises some vital questions related to mental disorders but also sheds light on several crucial aspects related to them. Jamison expresses how a check on language—used to address the sufferers—can help the de-stigmatizing process but how it is not enough. She explains that vigorous awareness efforts and forceful advancements in medicine are much needed to change social attitudes about mental disorders. Moreover, the book reflects on the importance of medication, therapy, and strong interpersonal relationships. Over and over again in the book, she emphasizes the role of lithium and the amount of love, support, and help she received from her psychiatrist, family, co-workers and the men in her life in dealing with her depression, suicidal thoughts and suicide attempt.
            This book is inspiring especially for those with bipolar disorder; it humanizes the disorder and also conveys beautifully that one’s mental disorder cannot always get the best of them. They can have loving relationships and successful careers with proper help and medication. However, for those reading it to understand the disorder, there are some gaps in the book. It does, however, give us a great deal of insight into how mental disorder can force people to behave in ways that they otherwise would not have (Jamison, 1995). Jamison is testimonial to the fact that even though diagnosis and experiencing the disorder can be scary and debilitating in the beginning, one can learn various ways through which they can learn to co-exist with their mental disorder and continue with life like any other person.

References
Jamison, K.R. (1995). An Unquiet Mind: A memoir of moods and madness. New York: Alfred A. Picador.
Solomon, A. (2015). Introduction. In An Unquiet Mind. New York: Alfred A. Picador.

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