Windows of Vulnerability
Dr. Andrew Leuchter, Director of Adult Psychiatry at UCLA, talks about times in life (for example, in one's twenties and thirties) when people have what he calls, "a large window of vulnerability" for various illnesses, including bipolar disorder (m...
Staying On Medication
Professor of psychiatry and author Kay Redfield Jamison explains that it's very difficult to convince patients to continue with their medications, particularly given the side effects some experience. "I certainly went on and off my medications," Dr....
Onset of manic-depressive Illness
Professor of psychiatry and author Kay Redfield Jamison talks about the sudden onset of severe depression she experienced at age seventeen.
Response From Family
Professor of psychiatry and author Kay Redfield Jamison talks about sharing with her family the manuscript that details her story, because "...it's a genetic illness and I didn't want anybody to...be uncomfortable with the idea at all, because it's ...
Manic Depressive Experiences in College and Beyond
Professor of psychiatry and author Kay Redfield Jamison talks about the episodes of mania and depression she experienced in college, then recalls her years in graduate school as a time of relative stability. All that changed when she began teaching ...
Looking At The Family Tree
Professor of psychiatry and author Kay Redfield Jamison explains that, while she noticed as a child that her father was sometimes very outgoing and at other times profoundly depressed, "...you don't go around when you're a child and an adolescent......
Untreated Manic-Depressive Illness
Professor of psychiatry and author Kay Redfield Jamison says that, when the illness goes untreated, there is a tendency over time for manic-depressive episodes to get more frequent, more extreme and more difficult to treat.
Early Therapy
Professor of psychiatry and author Kay Redfield Jamison talks about her early therapy experiences and discusses the impact of medications she was taking. "I was in and out of being very psychotic," Dr. Jamison recalls. "I think I was desperate to fe...
Family Reaction to Manic-Depressive Illness
Professor of psychiatry and author Kay Redfield Jamison reveals that, although manic-depressive illness runs rampant in her family, nobody discussed it when her own symptoms first appeared.
Bipolar Illness or Manic-Depressive Illness?
Professor of psychiatry and author Kay Redfield Jamison explains that "manic-depressive illness" is a more exact and descriptive term than "bipolar disorder." Dr. Jamison acknowledges, however, that some people prefer to use the term "bipolar" becau...