The definitive work on the profound and surprising links between manic-depression and creativity, from the bestselling psychologist of bipolar disorders who wrote "An Unquiet Mind."
One of the foremost psychologists in America, "Kay Jamison is plainly among the few who have a profound understanding of the relationship that exists between art and madness" (William Styron).
The anguished and volatile intensity associated with the artistic temperament was once thought to be a symptom of genius or eccentricity peculiar to artists, writers, and musicians. Her work, based on her study as a clinical psychologist and researcher in mood disorders, reveals that many artists subject to exalted highs and despairing lows were in fact engaged in a struggle with clinically identifiable manic-depressive illness.
Jamison presents proof of the biological foundations of this disease and applies what is known about the illness to the lives and works of some of the world's greatest artists including Lord Byron, Vincent Van Gogh, and Virginia Woolf.

This unique collection of lectures honors the pioneering work in Byron studies of Leslie Alexis Marchand, who has had an enduring influence on the appreciation and study of Lord Byron for sixty years. Generations of readers and writers have come to Byron through his biographies and his edition of the poet's letters and journals. All admirers of Byron respond to the verve, dash, and immediacy of his correspondence, which lies at the heart of Marchand's biographies and offers us a portrait based on the poet's views of himself and his times. No one has so powerfully and judiciously allowed Byron's life to emerge from the testimony of his letters. Many readers, from his contemporaries to our day, have refused to separate the poet from his troubled dark heroes, and see little but strands of autobiography in the poems. But the letters and journals reveal him in a very different light. Leslie Marchand provided these documents for the first time in their unexpurgated and authoritative form. This collection pays tribute to Marchand's careful scholarship and scrupulous attention to the limits of interpretation. Marchand's continued relevance to Byron studies derives in part from the work undertaken by those inspired by his labors as editor and interpreter; many of whom are represented in this collection. Three opening essays bear personal witness to his fervent support for young scholars, his depth of expertise and appeal as a teacher, and his commitment to encouraging others to join him on his Byron pilgrimage. The lectures themselves represent such diverse disciplines as literary theory, psychiatry, publishing history, comparative literature, drama, political history, revolutionary politics in literature and music, literary criticism, textual editing and selection, and literary influence. A chronology and a bibliography provide an overview of his life and scholarship.

WITH A NEW PREFACE BY THE AUTHOR
In her bestselling classic, "An Unquiet Mind, "Kay Redfield Jamison changed the way we think about moods and madness.
Dr. Jamison is one of the foremost authorities on manic-depressive (bipolar) illness; she has also experienced it firsthand. For even while she was pursuing her career in academic medicine, Jamison found herself succumbing to the same exhilarating highs and catastrophic depressions that afflicted many of her patients, as her disorder launched her into ruinous spending sprees, episodes of violence, and an attempted suicide.
Here Jamison examines bipolar illness from the dual perspectives of the healer and the healed, revealing both its terrors and the cruel allure that at times prompted her to resist taking medication. "An Unquiet Mind "is a memoir of enormous candor, vividness, and wisdom--a deeply powerful book that has both transformed and saved lives.

Kay Redfield Jamison, award-winning professor and writer, changed the way we think about moods and madness. Now Jamison uses her characteristic honesty, wit and eloquence to look back at her relationship with her husband, Richard Wyatt, a renowned scientist who died of cancer. "Nothing was the Same" is a penetrating psychological study of grief viewed from deep inside the experience itself.

"From the eBook edition."

Suicide is the third major killer of young people in the Western world, and in the closing decades of the twentieth century it reached epidemic proportions: around the world there has been a frightening surge in suicides committed by children, adolescents and young adults. Kay Redfield Jamison is herself a survivor of a nearly lethal suicide attempt which came after years of battling manic depression. Her survival marked the beginning of a life's work to investigate mental illness and self-inflicted death, and she is now an internationally recognized authority on the depressive illnesses. In Night Falls Fast Dr. Jamison dispels the silence and shame that surround the subject of suicide and provides a better understanding of the suicidal mind and a chance to recognize the person at risk. She brings to the book not only wide scientific knowledge and clinical experience but also great compassion. In tracing the network of reasons underlying the phenomenon, she gives us astonishing examples and a startling look at the journals, drawings and farewell notes of people who have chosen to kill themselves. She also provides vivid insight into the most recent findings from hospitals and laboratories across the world; the critical biological and psychological factors that interact to cause suicide; and the new strategies being evolved to combat them. Night Falls Fast is a sensitive and penetrating analysis that helps us to comprehend the profound and disturbing sense of loss created in those left behind. It is the first major book on the subject in a quarter of a century and stands to become a classic account of one of the most devastating and destructive causes of death of our time.

From the author of the best-selling memoir An Unquiet Mind, comes the first major book in a quarter century on suicide, and its terrible pull on the young in particular. Night Falls Fast is tragically timely: suicide has become one of the most common killers of Americans between the ages of fifteen and forty-five.

An internationally acknowledged authority on depressive illnesses, Dr. Jamison has also known suicide firsthand: after years of struggling with manic-depression, she tried at age twenty-eight to kill herself. Weaving together a historical and scientific exploration of the subject with personal essays on individual suicides, she brings not only her remarkable compassion and literary skill but also all of her knowledge and research to bear on this devastating problem. This is a book that helps us to understand the suicidal mind, to recognize and come to the aid of those at risk, and to comprehend the profound effects on those left behind. It is critical reading for parents, educators, and anyone wanting to understand this tragic epidemic.

"Most valuable, to my thinking, is Caramagno's demonstration of the interrelationship between Woolf's literary brilliance and her devastating depressions and creative highs, and his insights into the creative process itself."--Ronald R. Fieve, M.D., author of "Moodswing

"This book is a knockout. After reading it, Woolf scholars (like me), and everyone else, are going to have to rethink everything we think we know about Virginia Woolf. I expected yet another predictable book on Woolf's madness . . . and instead came away thoroughly impressed."--Jane C. Marcus, Distinguished Professor of English at The City College of New York and Coordinator of Women's Studies at the CUNY Graduate Center

"Caramagno's powerfully revisionist account of Woolf's life and work traces her courageous attempt to record and understand her own mental illness. His book throws a flood of light on the relentlessly honest self-scrutiny of her autobiographical writing as well as on the deliberate discontinuities of her fiction."--Alex Zwerdling, author of "Virginia Woolf and the Real World

"Most valuable, to my thinking, is Caramagno's demonstration of the interrelationship between Woolf's literary brilliance and her devastating depressions and creative highs, and his insights into the creative process itself."--Ronald R. Fieve, M.D., author of "Moodswing

"This book is a knockout. After reading it, Woolf scholars (like me), and everyone else, are going to have to rethink everything we think we know about Virginia Woolf. I expected yet another predictable book on Woolf's madness . . . and instead came away thoroughly impressed."--Jane C. Marcus, Distinguished Professor of English at The City College of New York and Coordinator of Women's Studies at the CUNY Graduate Center

"Caramagno's powerfully revisionist account of Woolf's life and work traces her courageous attempt to record and understand her own mental illness. His book throws a flood of light on the relentlessly honest self-scrutiny of her autobiographical writing as well as on the deliberate discontinuities of her fiction."--Alex Zwerdling, author of "Virginia Woolf and the Real World

Family-focused psychoeducational treatment (FFT) is among a very small number of psychosocial treatments that have been found to be effective in multiple studies to improve the course of bipolar disorder. This indispensable guide-now in a revised and updated second edition-describes how to implement FFT to help patients and family members understand bipolar disorder, communicate more effectively, solve practical problems related to the illness, and reduce the risk and severity of relapse. Revised throughout to incorporate the latest knowledge on the illness and its biological and psychosocial treatment, the second edition covers the treatment of adolescents as well as adults. It includes more than a dozen reproducible handouts.