An Unquiet Mind

Love plays an important role as a theme in An Unquiet Mind; Jamison begins with glimpses of love, returns to it throughout the text, and devotes much of Part 3 to love as a healing force. Love, in this context, does not necessarily mean long-term romantic love; rather, Jamison illustrates versions of love that include familial love and devotion (more on that below), love and acceptance shown to her by colleagues, and even the kind of romantic companionship that is restorative and helpful, even if fleeting.

Jamison describes her household growing up as one that was warm and generally full of love: although she didn’t get along with her sister, her brother was kind toward her and protective of her, and her parents showed her warmth and acceptance, regardless of the direction she chose to go in—never suggesting that her passions were childish or ludicrous, for example. It’s notable that her mood swings became more erratic at the same time that her home because colder. Even more so, there is a stark contrast between her loving, if mercurial, father as a child and the colder, angrier person he became when she was a teenager; this might partially be explained by illness, but it simultaneously is suggested as a triggering event.