Distinguished Author To Share Perspectives On Grief And Depression

The Mental Health Association in Talbot County invites the public to a presentation by author and educator Dr. Kay Redfield Jamison on “Grief and Depression: Personal and Professional Perspectives.” The program will take place at the Avalon Theatre in Easton on Wednesday, December 8, at 7 p.m.

A reception will be held for the author at Scossa Restaurant prior to the presentation, from 5:00 to 6:30 p.m. Proceeds benefit the Mental Health Association’s education programs.

Dr. Jamison is Co-Director of the Mood Disorders Center at Johns Hopkins Medical School and co-author of the standard medical text on manic depressive (bipolar) illness. One of five doctors chosen for the public television series, Great Minds in Medicine, Dr. Jamison was also chosen by Time Magazine as a “Hero of Medicine” and received a MacArthur “genius” grant.

Her professional credentials come grounded in first-hand personal experience, perspectives shared with the general public in her nationally bestselling books.

In An Unquiet Mind, Dr. Jamison describes her own struggles with manic depressive illness, with its pendulum swings between euphoria and what she calls “the blackest caves of the mind.” She helps people to understand the suicidal mind in Night Falls Fast, which is based on her own attempt to kill herself at age twenty-eight.

In addition to being the subject of her presentation, grief and depression are also the themes of her latest book, Nothing Was The Same, which chronicles the loss of her husband, Dr. Richard Wyatt. “It has been said that grief is a kind of madness,” she writes in the prologue. “I disagree. There is a sanity to grief, in its just proportion of emotion to cause, that madness does not have.” Dr. Jamison notes that “the capacity to be consoled is a consequential distinction between grief and depression.”

A complimentary volume of one of her books will be offered to those patrons registering for the reception, with Dr. Jamison signing copies. The reception price is $100 per person and includes priority seating for the presentation.

Tickets for Dr. Jamison’s presentation alone are $30, with an advance price of $20 if purchased by November 24. The program is being offered in cooperation with Talbot Hospice Foundation and Evergreen Cove.

“It is an honor to have Dr. Jamison in Easton,” said Dr. Jeffrey Messing, Board President of the Mental Health Association inTalbot County. Messing encouraged both professionals with clients dealing with grief and other interested individuals to take advantage of this opportunity to meet this distinguished author as she shares her knowledge and her own unique perspectives on the workings of the human mind.

For tickets, to make a contribution or to volunteer, call the Mental Health Association in Talbot County at 410-822-0444 or visit www.mhamdes.org.