Chapter 12 "Clinical Privileges" Summary and Analysis

Jamison again visits the question of her own reluctance to openly discuss her illness that preceded the writing of her book. Some of her diffidence stems from a sense of embarrassment; but a larger part serves to protect her against the unintentional cruelties of friends and colleagues concerning her illness. A big part of her reluctance also has to do with her wish to protect her own family members, since manic-depressive illness is genetically based.

In other ways, too, revealing her illness could have impacts on her professional life. Because she teaches psychiatry at the mood disorders clinic at Johns Hopkins University, Jamison is concerned that medical residents and interns might not ask questions they need to ask about the disorder if they know she is a sufferer. When she fills out an application for...