Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in An Unquiet Mind, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Madness
Love as Medicine
Stigma and Society
Authenticity in the Professional World
Summary
Analysis
Kay Redfield Jamison sums up what thirty years of living with manic-depressive illness has taught her about the “restraints and possibilities” that accompany the disorder. She acknowledges that the “darkness” that has dogged her all her life has become a part of who she is, just as the recollections of past manias have tinged her present with a kind of melancholic longing for the intensity of her past. She misses the girl she once was—the girl who dreamed of dancing on Saturn’s rings—yet she never feels tempted to re-create such intensity in her present by going off her medication.
In this final chapter, Jamison prepares to sum up her feelings about her own experiences with manic-depressive illness. Her feelings about the disorder are, obviously, quite complex—but so too, she argues, is the disorder itself. Manic-depressive illness is something that defines her even as she seeks to overcome its pull on her.
Themes
Jamison still feels the effects of waves of mania and depression, even having been on lithium for decades—she is well for now, but she often cannot stop herself from preparing for the worst. Still, she feels that the cycles of moods that have defined her life have made her more philosophical, more capable, and more understanding of others. She can see life’s seasons and cycles more clearly, and she understands how impermanent so much of life truly is. This understanding, she says, has allowed her to live more fully in the moment and appreciate the present.
Jamison has been to the depths of her own mind and she knows that she could very well one day return to that unhappy place. Still, she tries to focus more on the positives of what her illness has given her than allow herself to be dragged down by the negatives. Jamison has a somber but grateful outlook at this point in her life and has learned to understand that life is ongoing and that no feeling is final—all because of what her illness has taught her.
Themes
Love and medicine, Jamison writes, are the two forces that allow her to “shut out the terror and awfulness” of life’s moments of sadness and overwhelm. Love is what has allowed her to “re-create hope” time and time again, even in her darkest moments.
Even though love is not a cure, it is a balm. Being loved by others—and giving love herself—has allowed her to feel hopeful about her capacity for connection and emotion throughout her toughest times.
Themes
Jamison’s illness has taught her that there is no such thing as “a life without storms.” Her own mercurial nature is proof of that, as are all the pains and losses she’s suffered that have been beyond her control. She has learned to appreciate rather than fear these moments of alternating “restlessness [and] bleakness” and allow the tides of life to give true, deep meaning to her experiences and relationships.
Jamison states that her mental illness has given her the ability to weather the natural tides of life with more tenacity than most—and to be appreciative of life’s ever-changing emotional rhythms and seasons.
Themes
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