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" You become aware of an illness by understanding yourself and understanding the meaning that that illness has in your own life, symbolically and, more importantly, quite literally. "

Kay Redfield Jamison

Understanding

Yourself

Life

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" Moods are complicated and very much a part of who we are. People would be very boring without them. "

" There are scientists all around the world looking for the genes responsible for bipolar illness and major depression. "

" A possible link between 'madness' and genius is one of the oldest and most persistent of cultural notions. "

" Lithium prevents my seductive but disastrous highs, diminishes my depressions, clears out the wool and webbing from my disordered thinking, slows me down, gentles me out, keeps me from ruining my career and relationships, keeps me out of a hospital, alive, and makes psychotherapy possible. "

" One of things so bad about depression and bipolar disorder is that if you don't have prior awareness, you don't have any idea what hit you. "

" With grief, you have reason to despair; it's a human thing. "

" People talk about grief as if it's kind of an unremittingly awful thing, and it is. It is painful, but it's a very, very interesting sort of thing to go through, and it really helps you out. At the end of the day, it gets you through because you have to reform your relationship, and you have to figure out a way of getting to the future. "

" Confidentiality is an ancient and well-warranted social value. "

" Mood disorders are terribly painful illnesses, and they are isolating illnesses. And they make people feel terrible about themselves when, in fact, they can be treated. "

" In some cases, some people do get depressed in the middle of their grief, and they really need to be treated for depression. "

" I have had manic-depressive illness, also known as bipolar disorder, since I was 18 years old. It is an illness that ensures that those who have it will experience a frightening, chaotic and emotional ride. It is not a gentle or easy disease. "

" When I'm talking about depression, I'm talking about the more severe forms of depression, and I think that conceptualising as a form of grief is probably not the most effective way of looking at it. I mean, at the end of the day, people suffer enormously, and you want to treat it. "

" Grief comes and goes, but depression is unremitting. "

" Mania is as bad as it gets. If not treated, it will become worse, more frequent, and harder to treat. "

" I am one of millions who have been treated for depression and gotten well; I was lucky enough to have a psychiatrist well versed in using lithium and knowledgeable about my illness, and who was also an excellent psychotherapist. "

" Scientists have made extraordinary advances in understanding the brain and its disorders. "

" It's more common than not that bipolar illness will start in the teens. One of the reasons I spend a lot of time on college campuses is exactly that reason. It's terribly important to talk to students about knowing these things in advance. "

" We expect well-informed treatment for cancer or heart disease; it matters no less for depression. "

" Grief is so human, and it hits everyone at one point or another, at least, in their lives. If you love, you will grieve, and that's just given. "

" When public figures remain silent about depression, there is a cost to the rest of society. Silence contributes to the misperception that successful people do not get depressed, and it keeps the public from seeing that treatment allows many individuals to return to competitive professional lives. "

" There are a lot of studies that suggest a higher rate of creativity in bipolars than the general population. "

" There is no common standard for education about diagnosis. Distinguishing between bipolar depression and major depressive disorder, for example, can be difficult, and mistakes are common. Misdiagnosis can be lethal. Medications that work well for some forms of depression induce agitation in others. "

" Psychologists, for reasons of clinical necessity or vagaries of temperament, have chosen to dissect and catalog the morbid emotions - depression, anger, anxiety - and to leave largely unexamined the more vital, positive ones. "

" Lithium remains the gold standard, but many drugs now treat bipolar disorder. Medication is critical and should be combined with psychotherapy. Compliance is a major problem. Patients believe that once they're better, they no longer need the medication. It doesn't work that way. "

" Knowledge is marvelous, but wisdom is even better. "

" Several politicians and wives of politicians have been public about their experiences with depression or bipolar illness, including Lawton Chiles, Patrick Kennedy, Tipper Gore and Kitty Dukakis. Each made a tremendous difference by doing so. "

" Never once, during any of my bouts of depression, had I been inclined or able to pick up a telephone and ask a friend for help. It wasn't in me. "

Kay Redfield Jamison

Friend

Depression

" Psychotherapy is a sanctuary; it is a battleground; it is a place I have been psychotic, neurotic, elated, confused, and despairing beyond belief. "