October 11, 2002
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Kay Redfield Jamison, professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and author of the acclaimed autobiography An Unquiet Mind, will discuss “A Life in Moods: Personal and Professional Perspectives on Mental Illness” on Thursday, Oct. 17, at Vanderbilt. The lecture begins at 4:15 p.m. in Room 103 of Wilson Hall. The event is free and open to the public.
In her book An Unquiet Mind, Jamison writes, "We are all differently organized. We each move within the restraints of our temperament and live up only partially to its possibilities." Jamison’s personal restraints, however, are more burdensome than most. While pursuing her career in academic medicine, she found herself succumbing to the same exhilarating highs and catastrophic lows that afflicted many of her patients. Her disorder launched her into ruinous spending sprees, episodes of violence and an attempted suicide.
In 1995, Jamison shocked her Johns Hopkins colleagues by going public with her illness in a Washington Post article and her subsequent autobiography. An Unquiet Mind became a New York Times bestseller and was named to several major publications’ “best of the year” lists.
A 2001 recipient of the prestigious MacArthur Fellowship, Jamison has become a trusted spokesperson for millions of depression sufferers. She is also the author of Touched With Fire, a study of manic depression’s influence on the creative spirit; Night Falls Fast: Understanding Suicide; and Exuberance: The Vital Emotion.
Jamison’s appearance marks the 2002 Harry C. Howard Lecture at Vanderbilt’s Robert Penn Warren Center for the Humanities. The Robert Penn Warren Center promotes interdisciplinary discussion of academic, social and cultural issues. This lecture series was endowed by a gift from Mr. and Mrs. Thomas E. Nash Jr. and Mr. and Mrs. George D. Renfro to honor their friend, Vanderbilt alumnus Harry C. Howard Jr.
Vanderbilt’s Wilson Hall is located on 21st Avenue South, one block off West End Avenue. Public parking is available in the Terrace Place Garage between 20th and 21st Avenues South.
Additional information about this and future lectures at the Humanities Center is available at www.vanderbilt.edu/rpw_center/index.html.
Contact: David Glasgow, 615-322-NEWS, david.glasgow@vanderbilt.edu