An Unquiet Mind

Rating: 4/5 (always good to quote from)

I love this book. To be fair, it should probably have made it's way into the favourites post, but really I haven't had it long enough and nor is it a book; it's a memoir. It is the memoir of Kay Redfield Jamison an American psychologist who suffered from Bipolar Disorder. She was tired of the stigma, the confusion and the repetitive explanations to everyone. She now travels America delivering talks and seminars on how to tackle Bipolar Disorder.

I am not a psychology student, but have always been interested in the reading material. I searched high and low for a decent account of the illness, and kept ending up back on this one. The sheer honesty of the story is spine tingling. It's harsh in some places, desperate and fluctuating with hints on despair, but then it is also refreshing and brave in others. Above all, it doesn't give you a doctor's account with hard terminology or jargon - but a real one. A real human being suffering from a real illness and it's honestly brilliant.

Favourite Quote: "you are irritable and paranoid and humourless 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.”