Touched with fire
by Kay R. Jamison · first published 1993
63% recommend38% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Examines the link between creativity and manic-depressive illness, including family histories of Romantic poets and artists; recommended for readers curious about bipolar disorder and the artistic temperament.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
A survey of psychological problems associated with writers. It examines the diagnosis, survival and treatment protocols typically associated with bipolar/ manic depression in writers. Interesting, hopeful and moving.
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…creativity and mood disorders has been studied at book length. The most authoritative of the several books on that issue is by psychologist (and mood disorder patient) Kay Redfield Jamison, author of Touched with Fire: Manic-Depressive Illness and the Artistic Temperament, http://www.amazon.com/Touched-Fire-Manic-Depressive-Artistic... and co-author of the definitive text on manic-depressive illness http://www.amazon.com/Manic-Depressive-Illness-Disorders-Rec...…
on “Beautiful Minds: Relations between genius, creativeness and mental illness” ↗Hunger by Knut Hamsun, Wait Until Spring by John Fante, Post Office by Charles Bukowski, The Horse's Mouth by Joyce Cary, The Outsider by Colin Wilson, The Price of Greatness by Arnold M. Ludwig, Touched With Fire by Kay Redfield Jamison Just off the top of my head without any ordering.
on “Ask HN: Books That Should Be Read” ↗…severe depressive, likely financial ruin and a high chance of eventual suicide. A few books that helped me learn more about manic-depressive illness (and made me feel like there was actually hope...): - Touched with Fire: Manic-Depressive Illness and the Artistic Temperament by Dr. Kay Jameson -- Documents how creativity and manic-depressive illness are linked, and discusses the prevalence of mood disorders among the…
on “How I Overcame Bipolar II (and Saved My Own Life)” ↗>>>I'd like to imagine that most artists are relatively well-adjusted. Keep imagining. But great ones aren't. Go read: Touched with Fire: Manic-Depressive Illness and the Artistic Temperament by Kay Redfield Jamison http://www.amazon.com/Touched-With-Fire-ebook/dp/B001D1YCM2 The Outsider by Colin Wilson http://www.amazon.com/The-Outsider-Colin-Wilson/dp/087477206...…
on “You are not Steve Jobs” ↗There's a theory that creatives are much more sensitive (which is why they are so good at their work) and thus more vulnerable to crazy highs and lows. One book on the subject is, Touched with Fire: Manic-Depressive Illness and the Artistic Temperament.
on “What to Do When a Loved One Is Severely Depressed” ↗Regarding bipolar disorder, you might enjoy reading Jameson's "Touched With Fire". She looks at the family trees of Romantic poets and how so many of the creative ones struggled, and how they had relatives that were thoroughly troubled in a way that made them unproductive. It's a…
on “A neuroscientist who believes addiction is not a disease” ↗A well-known psychiatrist with bipolar disorder, Kay Jamison, published a book titled "Touched with Fire: Manic-Depressive Illness and the Artistic Temperament". In her own words: "The main purpose of this book is to make a literary, biographical, and scientific argument for a compelling association, not…
on “An easter egg for one user: Luke Skywalker” ↗Yes, Kay Redfield Jamison, author of Touched with Fire: Manic-Depressive Illness and the Artistic Temperament, http://www.amazon.com/Touched-Fire-Manic-Depressive-Artistic... and co-author of the definitive text on manic-depressive illness http://www.amazon.com/Manic-Depressive-Illness-Disorders-Rec...…
on “Depression's Evolutionary Roots” ↗As noted in the previous HN thread http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=788259 that submitted this article, Kay Redfield Jamison, author of Touched with Fire: Manic-Depressive Illness and the Artistic Temperament, http://www.amazon.com/Touched-Fire-Manic-Depressive-Artistic... and co-author of the definitive text on manic-depressive illness http://www.amazon.com/Manic-Depressive-Illness-Disorders-Rec...…
on “Depression is not a malfunction” ↗I don't think anyone likes to admit it. It took Kay Redfield Jamison's book, Touched with Fire, to reveal the extent of it with writers and other artists. Granted, those are the ones who became well-known. We'll never know of the ones who didn't survive their torment.
on “Mental Illness and Startups” ↗…Indeed, Temple Grandin, perhaps the world's best-known high-functioning autistic, recommends computer programming as a career for people like her. Among artists, the same is true about Bipolar (the book Touched with Fire is an interesting study of why and how that's true). I think it's relevant that Asperger was a valid diagnosis for a few decades, but it no longer is. (As of DSM-5, people are just placed somewhere on…
on “ADHD Pill Faces High Hurdle in Europe as Stigma Persists” ↗…authorities on manic-depressive illness - and also suffers from it. She wrote a memoir, An Unquiet Mind (http://www.amazon.com/An-Unquiet-Mind-Memoir-Madness/dp/0679...), and a non-fiction work of research, “Touched with Fire: Manic-Depressive Illness and the Artistic Temperament” (http://www.amazon.com/Touched-Fire-Manic-Depressive-Artistic...).
on “The Relationship Between Creativity and Mental Illness” ↗I'm currently reading Touched with Fire by Kay Jamison. It's a fairly quantitative examination of the links between depression and creativity. Though it's specifically about manic-depressives, I think much of it is relevant to the article as…
on “Everyone I Know is Brokenhearted” ↗