Kay Redfield Jamison
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born
June 22, 1946
in The United States
gender
female
genre
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“If I can't feel, if I can't move, if I can't think, and I can't care, then what conceivable point is there in living?”
― Kay Redfield Jamison, An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness
― Kay Redfield Jamison, An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness
“Others imply that they know what it is like to be depressed because they have gone through a divorce, lost a job, or broken up with someone. But these experiences carry with them feelings. Depression, instead, is flat, hollow, and unendurable. It is also tiresome. People cannot abide being around you when you are depressed. They might think that they ought to, and they might even try, but you know and they know that you are tedious beyond belief: you are irritable and paranoid and humorless and lifeless and critical and demanding and no reassurance is ever enough. You're frightened, and you're frightening, and you're "not at all like yourself but will be soon," but you know you won't.”
― Kay Redfield Jamison, An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness
― Kay Redfield Jamison, An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness
“There is a particular kind of pain, elation, loneliness, and terror involved in this kind of madness. When you're high it's tremendous. The ideas and feelings are fast and frequent like shooting stars, and you follow them until you find better and brighter ones. Shyness goes, the right words and gestures are suddenly there, the power to captivate others a felt certainty. There are interests found in uninteresting people. Sensuality is pervasive and the desire to seduce and be seduced irresistible. Feelings of ease, intensity, power, well-being, financial omnipotence, and euphoria pervade one's marrow. But, somewhere, this changes. The fast ideas are far too fast, and there are far too many; overwhelming confusion replaces clarity. Memory goes. Humor and absorption on friends' faces are replaced by fear and concern. Everything previously moving with the grain is now against-- you are irritable, angry, frightened, uncontrollable, and enmeshed totally in the blackest caves of the mind. You never knew those caves were there. It will never end, for madness carves its own reality.”
― Kay Redfield Jamison, An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness
― Kay Redfield Jamison, An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness
Topics Mentioning This Author
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Seasonal Read...: 20.3 (Best Review Contest - Amy MO - Mental Health) | 77 | 219 | May 13, 2010 05:18am | |
| The Seasonal Read...: Spring Challenge 2010 Completed Tasks | 2750 | 2216 | May 31, 2010 09:00pm | |
| The Seasonal Read...: Summer Challenge 2010 Completed Tasks (do NOT delete any posts in this thread) | 3072 | 2868 | Aug 31, 2010 10:39pm | |
| Paranormal Addict...: New to You Authors 2011 Challenge | 154 | 455 | Dec 25, 2011 02:58pm | |
| Chicks On Lit: Title and Author Game | 4039 | 1443 | Jan 14, 2012 06:59am | |
| Kids/Teens Book Club: Title Game! | 1518 | 490 | May 27, 2012 05:29am | |
| Fiction Fair: Book Title Game | 2243 | 67 | 16 hours, 27 min ago | |
| Challenge: 50 Books: Tiffani's Tearing up 2012! | 8 | 45 | 3 hours, 34 min ago |
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