"A Fire in the Blood": metaphors of bipolar disorder in Jamison's An Unquiet Mind.

Content analysis of three chapters of Jamison's memoir, An Unquiet Mind, shows that depression, mania, and Bipolar Disorder have a common metaphoric core as a sequential process of suffering and adversity that is a form of malevolence and destruction. Depression was down and in, while mania was up, in and distant, circular and zigzag, a powerful force of quickness and motion, fieriness, strangeness, seduction, expansive extravagance, and acuity. Bipolar Disorder is down and away and a sequential and cyclical process that partakes of the metaphors of its component moods.

Adolescent autonomy and family functioning are associated with headache-related disability.

Objectives: The aims of this study were to examine the relationships between a range of family factors, including autonomy and general family functioning, on headache outcomes (ie, pain and functional impairment) in adolescents with recurrent headaches.

Methods: Forty nine adolescents, ages 11 to 16 years, (mean age=13.5 y, 63% female) receiving treatment through pediatric neurology for recurrent headaches were enrolled.