Chapter 14 "Epilogue" Summary and Analysis

In a brief epilogue, Kay Jamison poses the hypothetical question whether she would choose to have manic-depressive illness, if given the choice. She answers that without the availability of lithium and her ability to respond well to the drug, he choice would be a resounding no. She hopes never to have the kind of depressions that the illness brought her. Nor does she want the kind of emotional and physical pain that could make her crawl across the floor for months, slow her mind and body nearly to a standstill, and deaden her spirit with a life-in-death blankness and emptiness that could destroy all work, all pleasure and all relationships.

On the other hand, Jamison recalls the peaks of awareness and intensity of feelings that the manic part of her illness produced with the kind of longing...