Chapter 6 "Tenure" Summary and Analysis

Jamison struggles to overcome both her manic-depression and the academic hurdles facing a woman with a psychotic mood disorder in a male-dominated field. With the help of lithium and the support of family and friends, she succeeds. But before she crosses the threshold to associate professor at UCLA, she must simplify her life made chaotic by her bouts of mania: numerous projects ranging from a study with her brother of the economic aspects of dam-building by beavers to her findings on marijuana, LSD and opiates. Jamison eventually condenses all these disparate efforts to a single goal: study and treat mood disorders, particularly manic-depressive illness.

With two colleagues, she establishes the UCLA Affective Disorders Clinic to provide a clinical rotation for third-year psychiatric residents. Although she encounters some resistance from the medical school because she is not herself...