Product Description

Suicide is the third major killer of young people in the Western world, and in the closing decades of the twentieth century it reached epidemic proportions: around the world there has been a frightening surge in suicides committed by children, adolescents and young adults. Kay Redfield Jamison is herself a survivor of a nearly lethal suicide attempt which came after years of battling manic depression. Her survival marked the beginning of a life’s work to investigate mental illness and self-inflicted death, and she is now an internationally recognized authority on the depressive illnesses.

In Night Falls Fast Dr. Jamison dispels the silence and shame that surround the subject of suicide and provides a better understanding of the suicidal mind and a chance to recognize the person at risk. She brings to the book not only wide scientific knowledge and clinical experience but also great compassion. In tracing the network of reasons underlying the phenomenon, she gives us astonishing examples and a startling look at the journals, drawings and farewell notes of people who have chosen to kill themselves. She also provides vivid insight into the most recent findings from hospitals and laboratories across the world; the critical biological and psychological factors that interact to cause suicide; and the new strategies being evolved to combat them.

Night Falls Fast is a sensitive and penetrating analysis that helps us to comprehend the profound and disturbing sense of loss created in those left behind. It is the first major book on the subject in a quarter of a century and stands to become a classic account of one of the most devastating and destructive causes of death of our time.

‘An important, moving and informative book’ Guardian

‘For anyone in any way connected with a potential suicide this book is essential reading: that means all of us’ The Times

‘This is a lyrical, beautifully argued, deep and deeply troubling book’ Evening Standard

‘A profound and impassioned book which will stand as the authoritative study of suicide for many years’ William Styron

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #657506 in Books
• Published on: 2001-09-07
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 300 pages

Review
'It stands alone in the literature of manic-depression for its bravery, brilliance and beauty' Oliver Sacks 'Night Falls Fast is the first major survey of suicide in 25 years... Jamison has a rare and unerring ability to straddle two worlds; she thinks like a scientist and writes like a novelist. Her prose is clear and exact but also profoundly moving... This is a lyrical, beautifully argued, deep and deeply troubling book and in all respects but one an easy read' Evening Standard

About the Author
Kay Redfield Jamison is Professor of Psychiatry at the John Hopkins University School of Medicine. She is one of the world's foremost experts on mood disorders, psychotherapy, psychopharmacology and suicide. Her memoir, An Unquiet Mind, was a worldwide bestseller and is available as a Picador paperback. She lives in Washington D.C.

Customer Reviews

There is no better book to help you understand...
...help you understand your self, or help you understand a suicidal person you care about.

Although medical professionals may read it, it is a book for anyone and easy to comprehend and feel emotional about.

I know a lot about suicide. It's a subject I have studied for all the wrong reasons since I was a kid. It nearly killed me.

I first read Dr K.R.Jamison's book when I was extremely ill, and it made me feel understood. It opened my eyes about some of my depressed thinking, just long enough to hesitate and live. It also brought home to me, the consequences of taking my life. It didn't always stop me trying to kill myself, but it mostly did. It certainly put me off some of the more gruesome ways to end life.

This book covers dark topics, it has to. It is difficult to read about peoples' pain, and frightening for all. But the book itself reads easily and informs absolutely. I recommend it highly.

Into the jaw's of death, and out again...
I first started to read this book whilst in the middle of a depressive episode, it was not a good idea. The book is quite hard to focus on unless you are 100%.
Having said that once I was better, I found the book sensative, informative and knowledgable. Unlike other book's it provide's clear and concise statistical data on the risk's of suicide, and accounts of those who have survived a suicide attempt and those who have died as a result. The types and methods used, and phsyco-analytical information.
The book examines the suicidal mind, and provides history showing that this is not a modern disease. No stone is left unturned.
For those who have survided a suicide attempt themselve's, you will find your self laughing, weeping and empathising as only a true surviour could.
To learn your own mind is a virtue - I would highly recomend this book - especially to all suicide survivours.

A superb overview of a taboo subject written with clarity
Kay Redfield Jamison's own experiences with bipolar disorder and attempted suicide have led her to this excellent, intelligent and compassionate study of a normally taboo subject. Written in a very literate way with great poetry, don't be put off by the subject. Get a hard dose of reality written in a gripping and profound style. Wow.