Play Book Tag discussion

I read this about 15 years ago and was bowled over. Jamison writes beautifully and passionately about manic depressive disease. Her courage in telling of her own battle with the illness is impressive, especially in view of her career in academic psychiatry. She does a great job of showing her own development over time, as she comes to recognize that she must take her lithium; the wildly thrilling manic episodes will always be followed by severe depression and that price is just too high to pay. She provides an excellent example of why people with this illness are so often non-compliant with their medicines. In the description of the manic episodes I recognized a touch of something I’ve felt myself. But I didn’t enjoy the book as much this time around. I felt there was a bit too much repetition and some the descriptions seemed overlong. None-the-less, anyone wanting a better understanding of this disease will find much of interest in the book.