An Unquiet Mind is a non-fiction book about the author's life in dealing with her own manic-depression disorder. She explains in interesting detail about her ups and downs and thoughts on how she and society views people with this disorder. She becomes a psychoanalyst and treats people who have the same problem that she is dealing with at the same time. Because of her career she tries to keep her disorder secret but lets in a few key people until she feels that she can trust a person. It was very interesting to learn of different people's reactions. Some were close friends who then were different toward her and others were very understanding and some were pretty ignorant and mean. I really liked how she explained the need for medication but the reasons why so many manics don't take it or stay on it. She had a ten year struggle before she got the right dosage of lithium to keep her stable but also feel like herself. I learned a lot.
This is probably not a book I would have normally read and some thing were hard to understand because I have never felt that depressed or that manic. Also, sometimes I would get a little lost with some of her medical discussions but overall I thought this book was very well written.
Our discussion at book club was really interesting and we even posed the question of how different the world would be without people with this disorder. Most of the great genius' in history had this disorder. Society has definitely benefited from the effects of this disorder, I think and yet we as a society tend to head in the other direction when confronted with it. Mostly, because I think we don't understand and it can be scary. Anyway, if anyone is interested in learning about this disorder I would highly recommend this book.
2 comments:
At one time I read everything I could about this disorder. I needed to understand what I was going through. I had a super manic episode only once and it was so unbelievably wonderful. My doctor told me afterwards if that ever happens again be sure that my husband brings me to the hospital immediately. It took me 6 months to tell him. I hoped it would happen again but I only had what I call mini-manic episodes. I suffer more from depression. So does one of my daughters. It's quite the horrible thing.
At this point in my life I'm not interested in reading anything more about it. I do think it's good that people understand it a bit more and are more tolerant that people may have physical disabilities that don't show outwardly.
It sounds like an interesting book and I like the direction your book club discussion took. It really does take all kinds to make the world such a diverse place.
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