Kay Redfield Jamison facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Kay Redfield Jamison
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Kay Redfield Jamison in 2007
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| Born | June 22, 1946 |
| Academic background | |
| Alma mater | University of California, Los Angeles |
| Academic work | |
| Institutions | Johns Hopkins School of Medicine University of St Andrews |
| Main interests | Psychiatry |
| Notable works | An Unquiet Mind |
Kay Redfield Jamison (born June 22, 1946) is an American clinical psychologist and writer. She is well-known for her work on bipolar disorder. This is a mental health condition that affects a person's moods, making them swing from very high (mania) to very low (depression). Dr. Jamison has had bipolar disorder since she was young.
She teaches at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine as a professor. She is also an Honorary Professor of English at the University of St Andrews in Scotland.
Becoming a Psychologist
Kay Jamison started studying psychology at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in the late 1960s. She earned her bachelor's and master's degrees in 1971. She continued her studies at UCLA and received her PhD in 1975. After that, she became a teacher at the university.
She helped start and lead the Affective Disorders Clinic at UCLA. This clinic was a big place for teaching, research, and helping people with mood disorders. Before her time at UCLA, she also studied zoology (the study of animals) and neurophysiology (the study of how the nervous system works) at the University of St Andrews in Scotland.
After teaching for several years at UCLA, Dr. Jamison became a professor of psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She has also given special lectures at many other universities, like Harvard University and the University of Oxford.
Awards and Special Honors
Dr. Jamison has received many awards for her work. She has also written over 100 articles for scientific journals. She was named one of the "Best Doctors in the United States." Time magazine also called her a "Hero of Medicine."
She was chosen as one of five people for a TV series called Great Minds of Medicine. She has also won awards like the National Mental Health Association's William Styron Award in 1995. In 2001, she received a special award called the MacArthur Fellowship. This award is given to talented people to support their creative work.
In 2010, the University of St Andrews gave her an honorary degree. This was to recognize all her important work throughout her life.
Her Important Books
Dr. Jamison has written several important books. Her latest book, Robert Lowell: Setting the River on Fire, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2018. The Pulitzer Prize is a very famous award for books and journalism.
Her book Manic-Depressive Illness, written with psychiatrist Frederick K. Goodwin, is a classic textbook about bipolar disorder. It helps doctors and students understand the condition.
One of her most famous books is An Unquiet Mind. This book is a memoir, which means it tells her own story. In it, she shares her personal experiences with severe mania and depression. Her second memoir, Nothing Was the Same, talks about her relationship with her second husband, Dr. Richard Wyatt. He was a psychiatrist who worked at the National Institute of Mental Health.
In her book Exuberance: The Passion for Life, she explores how some people might have a very joyful and energetic personality. She suggests that some people who could be diagnosed with bipolar disorder might never feel depressed. They might always feel "high" on life. She gave President Theodore Roosevelt as an example of someone who showed great exuberance.
Touched with Fire: Manic-Depressive Illness and the Artistic Temperament explores how bipolar disorder can be found in families with many artists or highly successful people. She used Lord Byron, a famous poet, and his family as an example.
Dr. Jamison wrote An Unquiet Mind partly to help doctors understand what patients find helpful in therapy. She showed how important it is for doctors to simply be there for their patients and offer support.
Her Life Story
Kay Jamison describes herself as an "exuberant" person. This means she is very lively and full of energy. She has said that she prefers a life with challenges and strong self-control over a very boring life.
She was born to Dr. Marshall Verdine Jamison and Mary Dell Temple Jamison. Her father was an officer in the U.S. Air Force. Many people in her father's family, including him, had bipolar disorder.
Because her father was in the military, Kay grew up in many different places. These included Florida, Puerto Rico, California, Tokyo, and Washington, D.C.. She has an older brother and an older sister. Her niece, Leslie Jamison, is also a writer. Kay's parents encouraged her interest in science and medicine from a young age. She even volunteered at a hospital when she was younger.
When she was a teenager, her family moved to California. Around this time, she began to experience bipolar disorder. She continued to struggle with it during college at UCLA. At first, she wanted to become a medical doctor. However, because of her increasing manic episodes, she realized she couldn't handle the strict demands of medical school.
Instead, she found her passion in psychology. She became very interested in mood disorders. Even with all her studies, she didn't realize she had bipolar disorder until she had been a professor at UCLA for three months. After she was diagnosed, she started taking medication to help control her moods. Sometimes she would stop taking it because it affected her physical skills. But after experiencing a deeper depression, she decided to continue taking her medication.
Kay Jamison is a member of the Episcopal Church. She was married to Alain André Moreau, an artist, during her graduate school years. Later, in 1994, she married Dr. Richard Wyatt. He was a psychiatrist who studied schizophrenia. They were married until his death in 2002. Their love story is told in her memoir Nothing Was the Same.
In 2010, Dr. Jamison married Thomas Traill, who is a professor of cardiology at Johns Hopkins.
