DOCSLIB.ORG

Manic-Depressive Illness and Creativity

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Manic-Depressive Illness and Creativity Manic-Depressive Illness and Creativity Does some fine madness plague great artists? Several studies now show that creativity and mood disorders are linked by Kay Redfield Jamison en have called me mad,” wrote Edgar Allan Poe, “but the question is not yet settled, whether madness is or is not the loftiest intelligence— The Author whether much that is glorious—whether all that is profound—does not spring from disease of thought—from moods of mind exalted at KAY REDFIELD JAMISON the expense of the general intellect.” is professor of psychiatry at M the Johns Hopkins University Many people have long shared Poe’s suspicion that genius and insanity are entwined. In- School of Medicine. She deed, history holds countless examples of “that fine madness.” Scores of influential 18th- wrote Touched with Fire: and 19th-century poets, notably William Blake, Lord Byron and Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Manic-Depressive Illness and wrote about the extreme mood swings they endured. Modern American poets John Berry- the Artistic Temperament and man, Randall Jarrell, Robert Lowell, Sylvia Plath, Theodore Roethke, Delmore Schwartz co-authored the medical text and Anne Sexton were all hospitalized for either mania or depression during their lives. Manic-Depressive Illness. Jamison is a member of the And many painters and composers, among them Vincent van Gogh, Georgia O’Keeffe, National Advisory Council Charles Mingus and Robert Schumann, have been similarly afflicted. for Human Genome Re- Judging by current diagnostic criteria, it seems that most of these artists—and many oth- search and clinical director of ers besides—suffered from one of the major mood disorders, namely, manic-depressive ill- the Dana Consortium on the ness or major depression. Both are fairly common, very treatable and yet frequently lethal Genetic Basis of Manic-De- diseases. Major depression induces intense melancholic spells, whereas manic-depression, pressive Illness. She has also written and produced a series of public television specials about manic-depressive ill- Tennessee Williams ness and the arts. Van Gogh painted flowers while in the asylum at Saint-Rémy. Vincent van Gogh AP/WIDE WORLD PHOTOS 44 Mysteries of the Mind Reprinted from the February 1995 issue Copyright 1997 Scientific American, Inc. Ezra Pound agnum M -BRESSON TIER MANN AR T Anne Sexton I/BET HENRI C UP a strongly genetic disease, pitches pa- tuitive. Most manic-depressives do not eccentric as manic-depressive. All the tients repeatedly from depressed to hy- possess extraordinary imagination, and same, recent studies indicate that a high peractive and euphoric, or intensely ir- most accomplished artists do not suffer number of established artists—far more ritable, states. In its milder form, from recurring mood swings. To assume, than could be expected by chance— termed cyclothymia, manic-depression then, that such diseases usually promote meet the diagnostic criteria for manic- causes pronounced but not totally de- artistic talent wrongly reinforces simplis- depression or major depression given in bilitating changes in mood, behavior, tic notions of the “mad genius.” Worse the fourth edition of the Diagnostic and sleep, thought patterns and energy lev- yet, such a generalization trivializes a Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders els. Advanced cases are marked by dra- very serious medical condition and, to (DSM-IV). In fact, it seems that these matic, cyclic shifts. some degree, discredits individuality in diseases can sometimes enhance or oth- Could such disruptive diseases con- the arts as well. It would be wrong to erwise contribute to creativity in some vey certain creative advantages? Many label anyone who is unusually accom- people. people find that proposition counterin- plished, energetic, intense, moody or By virtue of their prevalence alone, it is clear that mood disorders do not nec- OS essarily breed genius. Indeed, 1 percent T Charles Mingus HO of the general population suffer from manic-depression, also called bipolar ORLD P disorder, and 5 percent from a major depression, or unipolar disorder, during AP/WIDE W their lifetime. Depression affects twice as many women as men and most of- ten, but not always, strikes later in life. Bipolar disorder afflicts equal numbers of women and men, and more than a third of all cases surface before age 20. Some 60 to 80 percent of all adoles- ARTISTS, writers and composers shown on these pages all most likely suffered from manic-depressive illness or major depressive illness, according to their let- ters and journals, medical records and ac- counts by their families and friends. Re- CHIVE cent studies indicate that the tempera- ments and cognitive styles associated with mood disorders can in fact enhance cre- MANN AR T ativity in some individuals. BET Mysteries of the Mind 45 Copyright 1997 Scientific American, Inc. The Tainted Blood of the Tennysons lfred, Lord Tennyson (right), who experienced Modern medicine has confirmed that manic-de- A recurrent, debilitating depressions and pression and creativity tend to run in certain fami- probable hypomanic spells, often expressed fear lies. Studies of twins provide strong evidence that he might inherit the madness, or “taint of for the heritability of manic-depressive illness. blood,” in his family. His father, grandfather, If an identical twin has manic-depressive ill- two of his great-grandfathers as well as five ness, the other twin typically has a 70 to 100 of his seven brothers suffered from insanity, percent chance of also having the disease; if melancholia, uncontrollable rage or what is the other twin is fraternal, the chances are today known as manic-depressive illness. considerably lower (approximately 20 per- His brother Edward was confined to an asy- cent). A review of pairs of identical twins lum for nearly 60 years before he died from reared apart from birth—in which at least one MANN manic exhaustion. Lionel Tennyson, one of Al- had been diagnosed as manic-depressive— T fred’s two sons, displayed a mercurial tempera- found that in two thirds or more of the sets, the ill- ORBIS-BET ment, as did one of his three grandsons. ness was present in both twins. —K. R. J. C ELIZABETH MARY CHARLES (D'EYNCOURT) b. 1776 b. 1777 1784–1861 Recurrent bouts “Ferocious pessimism”; “Inherited his father’s instability of depression constant quarreling and fretfulness”; spendthrift and gloominess tendencies; expansive, grandiose activities and interests ELIZABETH FYTCHE GEORGE CLAYTON TENNYSON 1781–1865 1778–1831 Recurrent depressive illness Manic-depressive illness “Easy-going” and Vacillating moods “between frenzy and lethargy”; Rage, unstable moods and/or insanity “sweet tempered” spendthrift; alcoholic; “fits”; insanity GEORGE CHARLES MARY EDWARD SEPTIMUS CECILIA Died in 1808 –1879 1810 –1884 1813–1890 1815–1866 1817–1909 infancy, Addicted to laudanum; “...of a wild sort Confined in insane “Suffered from ner- “Mental disturbance 1806 “complete nervous break- of countenance”; asylum for almost 60 vous depression”; fre- and depression”; down”; had to be segregated obsessed with years; severe quent treatments for eccentric from outside world; extreme spiritualism melancholia; death melancholia; “the mood swings and from manic most morbid “recurrent fits of exhaustion of all the psychopathic Tennysons” depression” FREDERICK ALFRED EMILY ARTHUR MATILDA HORATIO 1807–1898 1809–1892 1811–1889 1814–1899 1816–1913 1819–1899 Irritability; eccentric; Recurrent depression that re- “Suffered much “Some mental derangement,” “Strange personality was violent temper and quired treatment; trances, possibly from depression”; occasionally attributed to legendary”; “rather unused volatile; obsessed epileptic but not thought so by one year in childhood accident; religious to this planet”; per- with spiritualism physician; possibly transient Crichton obsessions; “did not entirely ceived himself as vulner- hypomanic episodes; “dwelling Institution escape the black-blooded- able to the “weakness of the T in an element of gloom” for the Insane ness of the Tennysons” Tennysonian temperament” SOURCE: Adapted from Touched with Fire: Manic-Depressive Illness and the Artistic Temperament; based on biographies, autobiographical writings and letters. URNET LISA B cents and adults who commit suicide pression from normal periods of unhap- ductivity increases. Manics frequently have a history of bipolar or unipolar ill- piness, the common guidelines further become paranoid and irritable. More- ness. Before the late 1970s, when the require that these symptoms persist for over, their speech is often rapid, excit- drug lithium first became widely avail- a minimum of two to four weeks and able and intrusive, and their thoughts able, one person in five with manic-de- also that they significantly interfere with move quickly and fluidly from one topic pression committed suicide. a person’s everyday functioning. to another. They usually hold tremen- Major depression in both unipolar dous conviction about the correctness and bipolar disorders manifests itself Mood Elevation and importance of their own ideas as through apathy, lethargy, hopelessness, well. This grandiosity can contribute to sleep disturbances, slowed physical uring episodes of mania or hypo- poor judgment and impulsive behavior. movements and thinking, impaired Dmania (mild mania), bipolar pa- Hypomanics and manics generally memory and concentration, and a loss tients experience symptoms that are in have chaotic personal and professional of pleasure in typically enjoyable events. many ways the
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Treatment, Adherence, and Disability in Bipolar Disorder
    Petri Arvilommi Treatment, Adherence, and Disability in Bipolar Disorder ACADEMIC DISSERTATION To be presented with the permission of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, for public examination at the HUCH Psychiatry Centre, Christian Sibelius Auditorium, Välskärinkatu 12, on 10th June 2016, at 12 noon. Department of Psychiatry University of Helsinki Helsinki, Finland Helsinki 2016 Supervisors Professor Erkki Isometsä, M.D., Ph.D. Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine University of Helsinki Helsinki, Finland and Docent Kirsi Suominen, M.D., Ph.D. Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse, City of Helsinki, Social Services and Health Care Helsinki, Finland Reviewers Professor Jyrki Korkeila, M.D., Ph.D. Faculty of Medicine, University of Turku, Turku, Finland and Associate professor Olli Kampman, M.D., Ph.D. School of Medicine, University of Tampere Seinäjoki Hospital District, Department of Psychiatry Tampere, Finland Opponent Professor Esa Leinonen, M.D., Ph.D. School of Medicine, University of Tampere Dissertationes Scholae Doctoralis Ad Sanitatem Investigandam Universitatis Helsinkiensis ISBN 978-951-51-2205-6 (pbk.) ISBN 978-951-51-2206-3 (PDF) ISSN 2342-3161 (print) ISSN 2342-317X (online) http://ethesis.helsinki.fi T a m p e r e , F i n l a n d “The endless questioning finally ended. My psychiatrist looked at me, there was no uncertainty in his voice. “Manic-depressive illness.” I admired his bluntness. I wished him locusts on his lands and a pox upon his house. Silent, unbelievable rage. I smiled pleasantly. He smiled back. The war had just begun.” Kay Redfield Jamison “An Unquiet Mind” (1995) Abstract Petri Arvilommi.
    [Show full text]
  • Bipolar Disorder
    Bipolar Disorder D E P A R T M E N T O F H E A L T H A N D H U M A N S E R V I C E S P U B L I C H E A L T H S E R V I C E N A T I O N A L I N S T I T U T E S O F H E A L T H National Institute of Mental Health ipolar disorder, also known as manic- depressive illness, is a brain disorder that causes unusual shifts in a person�s mood, energy, and ability to function. Different from the normal ups and downs that everyone goes through, the symptoms of bipolar disorder are severe. They can result in damaged relationships, poor job or school performance, and even suicide. But there is good news: bipolar disorder can be treated, and people with this illness can lead full and productive lives. More than 2 million American adults,1 or about 1 percent of the population age 18 and older in any given year,2 have bipolar disorder. Bipolar disorder typically develops in late adolescence or early adulthood. However, some people have their first symptoms during childhood, and some develop them late in life. It is often not recognized as an illness, and people may suffer for years before it is properly diagnosed and treated. Like diabetes or heart disease, bipolar disorder is a long-term illness that must be carefully managed throughout a person�s life.
    [Show full text]
  • ‗DEFINED NOT by TIME, but by MOOD': FIRST-PERSON NARRATIVES of BIPOLAR DISORDER by CHRISTINE ANDREA MUERI Submitted in Parti
    ‗DEFINED NOT BY TIME, BUT BY MOOD‘: FIRST-PERSON NARRATIVES OF BIPOLAR DISORDER by CHRISTINE ANDREA MUERI Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements For the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation Adviser: Dr. Kimberly Emmons Department of English CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY August 2011 2 CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES We hereby approve the thesis/dissertation of Christine Andrea Mueri candidate for the Doctor of Philosophy degree *. (signed) Kimberly K. Emmons (chair of the committee) Kurt Koenigsberger Todd Oakley Jonathan Sadowsky May 20, 2011 *We also certify that written approval has been obtained for any proprietary material contained therein. 3 I dedicate this dissertation to Isabelle, Genevieve, and Little Man for their encouragement, unconditional love, and constant companionship, without which none of this would have been achieved. To Angie, Levi, and my parents: some small piece of this belongs to you as well. 4 Table of Contents Dedication 3 List of tables 5 List of figures 6 Acknowledgements 7 Abstract 8 Chapter 1: Introduction 9 Chapter 2: The Bipolar Story 28 Chapter 3: The Lay of the Bipolar Land 64 Chapter 4: Containing the Chaos 103 Chapter 5: Incorporating Order 136 Chapter 6: Conclusion 173 Appendix 1 191 Works Cited 194 5 List of Tables 1. Diagnostic Criteria for Manic and Depressive Episodes 28 2. Therapeutic Approaches for Treating Bipolar Disorder 30 3. List of chapters from table of contents 134 6 List of Figures 1. Bipolar narratives published by year, 2000-2010 20 2. Graph from Gene Leboy, Bipolar Expeditions 132 7 Acknowledgements I gratefully acknowledge my advisor, Kimberly Emmons, for her ongoing guidance and infinite patience.
    [Show full text]
  • Kay Redfield Jamison
    The Rhoda and Bernard Sarnat International Prize in Mental Health 2015 Honoree Kay Redfield Jamison, PhD Dalio Family Professor in Mood Disorders and Professor of Psychiatry, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Co-Director, Johns Hopkins Mood Disorders Center The 2015 Rhoda and Bernard Sarnat International Prize in Mental Health is awarded to Kay Jamison for her profound insights into affective disorders and suicide that have not only advanced the field, but also transformed public understanding. Her work combines cutting-edge research with deeply humanistic and often personal narratives—an approach that has cut through stigma to become a cornerstone of the field and a beacon for sufferers of mood disorders. Dr. Jamison is the co-author of Manic-Depressive Illness, the standard medical textbook in the field, and has written more than 125 scientific and clinical articles about mood disorders, suicide, creativity, and lithium. However, her greatest impact may lie in her works of narrative nonfiction, which probe links between creativity and mental illness, trace the natural history of affective disorders, and explore the suicidal mind. An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness, which chronicles Dr. Jamison’s own experience with manic-depressive illness, marked a major milestone in combating stigma in the psychiatric profession. It remained on the New York Times best-seller list for 5 months and has been translated into 25 languages. Johns Hopkins Hospital, where Dr. Jamison co-directs the Mood Disorders Center, praises the book on its website as a kind of “bibliotherapy” that does “what pills can’t: It lets patients read for themselves how destructive not taking their medicine can be, it tells of the healing power of structure, psychotherapy and a social network.
    [Show full text]
  • A Nation of Maniacs: Understanding Commodified Mania Through Bipolar Narratives Alexandra Marino
    orienting / 1 A Nation of Maniacs: Understanding Commodified Mania Through Bipolar Narratives Alexandra Marino Excerpt “How could one, should one, recapture that intensity…the glorious moods of dancing all night and into the morning, the gliding through starfields and dancing along the rings of Saturn, the zany manic enthusiasms? How can one ever bring back the long summer days of passion, the remembrance of lilacs, ecstasy, and gin fizzes that spilled down over a garden wall, and the peals of riotous laughter that lasted until the sun came up or the police arrived?” — Jamison, 211 This quote epitomizes the conflicted feelings Dr. Kay Redfield Jamison has towards her exhilarating and transcendental manic episodes. In her autobiography An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness, Jamison chronicles her battle with the cyclical highs and lows of bipolar disorder, a disease that for her is simultaneously lethal and life-affirming. Her manic highs are characterized by hypersexuality, fluidity of ideas, exuberance, extreme confidence, and hyperactivity (128). In contrast, when she cycles into depression after a manic episode, a desolate fog encapsulates her mind, bringing thoughts of suicide (39). Even as a professor of psychiatry who understands firsthand the ramifications of depression, she battles against taking the very same medications she urges her own patients to take. She fears that these mood stabilizers would eradicate the sweeping majesty of her mania, as depicted above (92). After years of resisting consistent treatment, she finally decides to stay on her medication, realizing that a life with less dramatic fluctuations in moods is preferable over no life at all.
    [Show full text]
  • Mental Notes
    HEALTH / By Jane Marion Pictured: sity School of Medi- derstanding Suicide, Exuberance, and a Doctors in the cine—is their struggle 1,262-page tome that is considered the House: Kay with bipolar illness definitive textbook on bipolar disorder). Redfield Jamison at home with (also known as manic- Associate professor of psychiatry at Thomas Traill. depression), a mood Yale School of Medicine Thomas Sty- disorder characterized ron, whose father, the late literary titan by episodes of severe depression and mania. William Styron, was a close friend of Although this enigmatic illness (suffered Jamison’s, has high praise for her. by more than 10 million people in the United “She is an absolute giant in the field of States alone, according to the National Al- psychiatry as someone who has been able liance on Mental Illness) was first classified to combine top-notch academic work dating back to the time of Hippocrates, it with this incredible personal story, which has lately found its way into the mainstream, has been such a huge service to people thanks to the success of the feature film Sil- who suffer from mental illness,” he says. ver Linings Playbook and Showtime’s wildly Her students are starry-eyed, too. popular Homeland, whose producer once “When medical residents come to look contacted Jamison to advise on an episode. at Hopkins, they say, ‘If I’m here, do I Of course, to Jamison, the disease is actually get to work with Dr. Jamison?’” nothing new: She is one of the most widely says Dr. Karen Swartz, associate profes- regarded experts on mood disorders in the sor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences world and has spent the greater part of her at Hopkins.
    [Show full text]
  • Melancholia and Mania: the Historical Contributions of Aretaeus of Cappadocia and Emil Kraepelin
    University of Calgary PRISM: University of Calgary's Digital Repository Graduate Studies The Vault: Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2020-04-27 Melancholia and Mania: The Historical Contributions of Aretaeus of Cappadocia and Emil Kraepelin Marlier, Krystal Marlier, K. (2020). Melancholia and Mania: The Historical Contributions of Aretaeus of Cappadocia and Emil Kraepelin ( Unpublished master's thesis). University of Calgary, Calgary, AB. http://hdl.handle.net/1880/111923 master thesis University of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission. Downloaded from PRISM: https://prism.ucalgary.ca UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY Melancholia and Mania: The Historical Contributions of Aretaeus of Cappadocia and Emil Kraepelin by Krystal Marlier A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS GRADUATE PROGRAM IN GREEK AND ROMAN STUDIES CALGARY, ALBERTA APRIL, 2020 © Krystal Marlier 2020 Abstract Two millennia ago, Aretaeus of Cappadocia, a physician from the first to second century CE, first presented a modern portrayal of the relationship between μανίη (mania) and μελαγχολίη (melancholia). His understanding is reflective of the nineteenth-century German clinician, Emil Kraepelin. I propose that Kraepelin and Aretaeus possess more similarities than differences. They were homologous in research techniques and nosology, with one significant difference in aetiology. Presently, Aretaeus’ classification remains recognized in psychiatry, though with a slight deviation in understanding and under different psychiatric labels.
    [Show full text]
  • Learning from Writers with Bipolar: Educational Strategies Lauren Dipaula Towson University, Towson, MD
    Language Arts Journal of Michigan Volume 25 Article 5 Issue 2 Difference 2010 Learning from Writers with Bipolar: Educational Strategies Lauren DiPaula Towson University, Towson, MD Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/lajm Recommended Citation DiPaula, Lauren (2010) "Learning from Writers with Bipolar: Educational Strategies," Language Arts Journal of Michigan: Vol. 25: Iss. 2, Article 5. Available at: https://doi.org/10.9707/2168-149X.1072 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@GVSU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Language Arts Journal of Michigan by an authorized editor of ScholarWorks@GVSU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. their illnesses, and their self-perceptions as writers Learning from Writers during bipolar episodes and while not. Over a period ofthree years, I conducted thirty-four hours ofin-depth with Bipolar: interviews and analyzed 585 pages of transcripts. Educational Strategies The results of my study are meant to contribute to a better understanding of twenty-one lives that are Lauren DiPaula deeply affected by this illness and to broaden our Towson University understanding ofwriting processes and practices. Towson, MD Interviews with Writers with Bipolar Disorder There are four main ways writing teachers tend to For the purposes of the study, I defined "writer" talk about mental illness and writing. We talk about as a person who writes on his or her own time, by encouraging writing to heal, about dealing with his or her own choice. I chose those who consider disturbing writing, about celebrating the creative themselves writers over students on the belief that impulses that come with some mental illnesses , and such participants would likely be more aware of we talk, however rarely, about educating ourselves as how their writing practices and processes were teachers as to the unique processes such students bring affected by their illnesses.
    [Show full text]
  • Touched by Fire Or Burning with Questions?
    Clinical Psychology Review 32 (2012) 1–12 Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Clinical Psychology Review Creativity and bipolar disorder: Touched by fire or burning with questions?☆ Sheri L. Johnson a,⁎, Greg Murray b, Barbara Fredrickson c, Eric A. Youngstrom c, Stephen Hinshaw a, Julie Malbrancq Bass a, Thilo Deckersbach d, Jonathan Schooler e, Ihsan Salloum f a University of California Berkeley, USA b Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia c University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, USA d Massachusetts General Hospital, USA e University of California Santa Barbara, USA f University of Miami Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, USA article info abstract Article history: Substantial literature has linked bipolar disorder with creative accomplishment. Much of the thinking in this Received 30 April 2011 area has been inspired by biographical accounts of poets, musicians, and other highly accomplished groups, Received in revised form 13 September 2011 which frequently document signs of bipolar disorder in these samples. A smaller literature has examined Accepted 3 October 2011 quantitative measures of creativity among people with bipolar disorder or at risk for the disorder. In this Available online 13 October 2011 paper, we provide a critical review of such evidence. We then consider putative mechanisms related to the link of bipolar disorder with creativity, by drawing on literature outside of bipolar disorder on personality, Keywords: Creativity motivational, and affective predictors of creativity. Because so little research has directly evaluated whether Bipolar disorder these factors could help explain the elevations of creativity in bipolar disorder, we conclude with an agenda Mania for future research on the theoretically and clinically compelling topic of creativity in bipolar disorder.
    [Show full text]
  • Kay Redfield Jamison
    Kay Redfield Jamison Author, An Unquiet Mind Professor Author of An Unquiet Mind, Professor of Psychiatry at The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Kay Redfield Jamison is an international authority and researcher on mood disorders. Chosen by TIME as a “Hero of Medicine," she has unique insight into the world of mental illness. Dr. Jamison went public with her own struggle with manic depression in a 1995 Washington Post article and subsequent book, An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness. The book became a New York Times bestseller that, according to Oliver Sacks, “stands alone in the literature of manic depression for its bravery, brilliance, and beauty.” Since its release she has become a trusted advocate for the millions who suffer from mental illness. Her national bestseller, Night Falls Fast: Understanding Suicide was selected as a New York Times Notable Book. She co-authored the standard medical textbook on manic depression, Manic-Depressive Illness: Bipolar Disorders and Recurrent Depression, which was chosen by the American Association of Publishers as one of the most outstanding books in Biomedical Science. She also is the author of Exuberance: The Passion for Life. In 2013 Jamison’s book Touched with Fire: Manic-Depressive Illness and the Artistic Temperament was awarded the Lewis Thomas Prize, which recognizes scientific works that reach a wider audience outside of the laboratory. Her latest memoir, Nothing Was the Same, is a haunting meditation on mortality, grief, and loss as Jamison looks back at her relationship with her husband, Richard, who passed away from cancer. Dr. Jamison has published over 100 articles in academic journals.
    [Show full text]
  • Great Wits and Madness: More Near Allied?{ Kay Redfield Jamison
    The British Journal of Psychiatry (2011) 199, 351–352. doi: 10.1192/bjp.bp.111.100586 Editorial Great wits and madness: more near allied?{ Kay Redfield Jamison Summary A purported association between creativity and large and well-designed population-based study adds further psychopathology is ancient, persistent and controversial. support to this connection. Biographical research, studies of living artists and writers, and investigations into the cognitive and temperamental factors linked to both creativity and mood disorders Declaration of interest suggest a more specific link to bipolar illness. A new, None. were more likely to have histories of creative accomplishment.6 Kay Redfield Jamison is the Dalio Family Professor in Mood Disorders and Harvard researchers, in a study of non-eminent individuals, Professor of Psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She is also Honorary Professor of English at the University of St Andrews found higher creativity scores in individuals with bipolar and in Scotland. cyclothymic disorders, as well as their normal first-degree relatives, than among the controls.10 Further evidence for an association between bipolar illness and high achievement was found in a prospective, 10-year, A link between creativity and madness was anciently declared and whole-population cohort study of all individuals in the Swedish assumed by many. Others have disagreed, dismissing the national school register (n = 713 876 after exclusions).11 Those purported association as a naive romanticisation of mental illness who demonstrated excellent school performance were nearly four or a miscomprehension of the diversity of imagination and times as likely to develop bipolar illness as were those who showed temperament necessary for original work.
    [Show full text]
  • Jamison MH Month08.Pub
    In Recognition of National Mental Health Month Personal and Professional Perspectives on Depression Featuring Kay Redfield Jamison, Ph.D. Kay Redfield Jamison, Ph.D. a clinical psychologist, is a Thursday, May 29 Professor of Psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. She is one of the foremost authorities on manic- 6:45 pm depressive illness and has experienced its exhilarating highs and catastrophic depressions first hand. With her unique dual perspective, Jamison will speak from the point of view of both Minnie Howard School Auditorium a “healer” and one who is “healed.” 3801 West Braddock Road Alexandria, VA 22302 She has been named one of the “Best Doctors in the United States” and was chosen by Time magazine as a “Hero of There is no cost to attend. Medicine.” Dr. Jamison has been the recipient of the National Mental Health Association’s William Styron Award, the American Suicide Foundation Research Award and the Free parking. Community Mental Health Research Award. 1.5 CEUs for health care providers. Dr. Jamison is the author of Manic Depressive Illness (with Frederick K. Book sale and signing to follow Goodwin), An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of the presentation. Moods and Madness, Touched with Fire: Manic Depressive Illness and the Artistic Temperament, Night Falls Fast: For interpretation services contact Understanding Suicide and Exuberance: A LaTanya Wooten at 703.838.4455. Passion for Life. This event is offered to the community in recognition of National Mental Health Month as part of the Partnership for A Healthier Alexandria’s HOPE Campaign to fight the stigma of accessing mental health services.
    [Show full text]