The anguished & volatile intensity associated with the artistic temperament was once thought to be a symptom of genius or eccentricity peculiar to artists writers & musicians Kay Jamison's work based on her study as a clinical psychologist & researcher in mood disorders reveals that many artists subject to exalted highs & despairing lows were in fact engaged in a struggle with clinically identifiable manic-depressive illness Jamison presents proof of the biological foundations of this disease & applies what is known about the illness to the lives & works of some of the world's greatest artists including Byron Van Gogh Schumann & Woolf