An Unquite Mind by Kay Redfield - 828 Words

The novel â€Å"An Unquiet Mind† starts off describing the life of a young girl, Kay. Early off in Kay’s life she is experiencing traumatizing life events. One of those events is a very close encounter with a plane that flew over the elementary playground very low and â€Å"It flew into the trees, exploding directly in front of us† (12). Early on it seems much easier to see how she developed the mental illness, manic-depressive (bipolar) illness. Also, her father showed signs of a bipolar illness and maybe it could be heredity. Another traumatizing event was when Kay and her family moved to California and the complete shock from the change in background. This switch also leads to Kay drinking before she attends classes for high school. Just at the age of 16, Kay is beginning to see just how much her mood swings are affecting her friends and how the bipolar illness is changing her life. The first D of abnormality that will help to describe Kay’s il lness is deviance. This is how the patient differs from society’s norms. An example that is very clear from the novel is when Kay has an urge for a particular book she wants to read. It starts off normal about wanting one book, â€Å"I ran off to the bookstore to track down a copy of it, which I did.† (42-43) but she leaves â€Å"with at least twenty other books† (43). This is the very deviant from what people without the illness would do. Another event that occurred during the maniac cycle that is deviant is the purchase of a horse for