Chapter 5 "The Charnel House" Summary and Analysis

Still, Jamison can't or won't take her lithium regularly. She becomes death-obsessed, and her depression slows her to the point that washing her hair takes hours. She resists her psychiatrist's attempts to have her hospitalized. After a vicious fight with her lover during which she lunges for his throat and he leaves, she takes a massive overdose of lithium and gets into bed, prepared to die. Determined to have a "successful" suicide, Jamison takes an anti-emetic to make sure the lithium is not vomited up. She is saved by a call from her brother in London, who notices her slurred speech and alerts her psychiatrist. She is in and out of coma for a few days.

Before her suicide attempt, Jamison had made friends with a psychiatrist who seemed to be interested in...