Kay Redfield Jamison
Picador, 1997; £7.99
ISBN 0 330 34651 2
Rating: 4/4

Described as a "foremost authority on manic-depressive illness," the author of this book both studies and lives with this disorder. Redfield Jamison gives the reader an insight into what it is like to live with bipolar affective disorder. You quickly grow to respect and admire her, and to see her as a sort of role model. Being a clinician herself, and having written textbooks on the subject, she also includes clinical details-subtly, so that you learn without realising it.

She describes her hypomanic episodes as some of her most exhilarating times, so that the reader actually envies this unique experience: what normal mind can fly past Saturn and its moons? "The intensity, glory, and absolute assuredness of my mind's flight made it very difficult for me to believe, once I was better, that the illness was one I should willingly give up." It is in this description that you can begin to understand what makes her and others so resistant to taking the prescribed medications, with their well known side effects, obediently.

The account is balanced with the true depths of depression that inevitably follow the mania. She presents a frightening account of herself in the midst of psychosis, of her pervasive suicidal thoughts, and of her eventual suicide attempt. You also see that somehow she has, throughout it all, managed to become a highly effective clinician and researcher, and you feel that if this woman can achieve things in the grip of such an illness, surely you can take your finals despite a mild attack of boredom.

Finally, Redfield Jamison acknowledges the fear of being exposed as a psychiatric patient within the medical profession. Her message to students and doctors with mental illness and drug or alcohol habits is that they should not be afraid of seeking help. While it is never easy to confide in a colleague and there will, unfortunately, be those who react negatively, many offer unexpected understanding, empathy, and invaluable support. She outlines the advantages of involving your colleagues, so that they may intervene if your clinical judgment suffers, to protect both you and your patients. As Redfield Jamison states herself, "The real dangers [are] those clinicians... who-because of the stigma or fear of suspension of their privileges or expulsion from medical school... are hesitant to seek out psychiatric treatment. Left untreated, or unsupervised, many become ill, endangering not only their own lives, but those of others."