I saw a television documentary program - was it on PBS? - several years ago in
which an author presented here views on depression and axiety as
described in her book. She referred to the familiar cyclical
phosphorescence of anxiety juxtaposed with the leaden weight of
depression [I'm paraphrasing here]. What is the name of the author,
book, program?

There may be several documentaries that fit the bill here, but the
person who came to my mind is author Dr. Kay Redfield Jamison.  She's
written quite extensively on manic depressive (bipolar) illness.   As
a Professor of Psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, she
has suffered with this illness herself and writes about it quite
eloquently.   Her most well-known book is "An Unquiet Mind" but she
also authored "Night Falls Fast: Understanding Suicide" and
co-authored  "Manic-Depressive Illness" with Frederick K. Goodwin,
M.D.
   
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0679763309/qid=1058538140/sr=8-2/ref=sr_8_2/102-4215763-5664903?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

Searching for her name on PBS, there are four programs in which she
participated:

Live From Lincoln Center - Interview with Dr. Kay Redfield ... 
... Live from Lincoln Center Interview with Dr. Kay Redfield Jamison
Johns Hopkins University The New York Philharmonic with Kurt Masur and
Sarah Chang March 3 ...
http://www.pbs.org/lflc/backstage/march3/jamison.htm - 29k - 

BACKSTAGE\Lincoln Center -- March 3 Episode
... Jon Deak, principal bass Glenn Dicterow, concertmaster Dr. Kay
Redfield Jamison, Johns Hopkins University Dr. Ellen Langer, Harvard
University; author of The ...
http://www.pbs.org/lflc/backstage/march3/ - 9k - 

The Online NewsHour: Author Dialogues
... 15, 1999, Night Falls Fast Kay Redfield Jamison presents a timely
and illuminating examination of suicide to Gwen Ifill. Jamsion reports
that someone commits ...
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/dialogue.html - 101k - 

Frontline: the long march of newt gingrich: the inner quest ... 
... In Manic Depressive Illness, which Goodwin co-authored with Kay
Redfield Jamison, he describes the usual mood in hypomania as
"ebullient, self-confident, and ...
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/newt/vanityfair3.html - 21k -

If any of these programs happen to match your recollection, I'd be
happy to post this as a formal answer.

Best wishes,
V

Hello again aussiepup,

Following up on my gut reaction and factoring in your screen name, I
found a lecture Dr. Jamison gave at the University of Melbourne in
July of 2000.  This might have been some local programming where she
discussed her 1999 book "Night Falls Fast."

Here are a few snippets from her talk:

'There is a particular kind of pain, elation, loneliness and terror
involved in this kind of illness. When you're high, it's tremendous.
The ideas and feelings are fast and frequent like falling stars. And
you follow them until you find better and brighter ones.

(...)

This makes it even harder to leave the past behind. And life, on
occasion, becomes a kind of elegy for lost moods. I miss the lost
intensities. And I find myself unconsciously reaching out for them as
I still now again reach back with my hand for the fallen heaviness of
my now gone long, thick hair.

Like the traces of moods, only a phantom weight remains."



This is the closest match to your "phosphoresence" and "leaden"
remembrance that I found.  You can read the full transcript here:
http://www.unimelb.edu.au/ExtRels/majorations/kjamison26july00.html

Thanks for your comments - you should be answering as a paid
researcher, no? I'll check out the links.

Hello aussiepup,

I am actually a paid researcher here but we don't charge for partially
answered questions.  Failing to come up with the specific documentary
title, I offered what I knew about this author just as a hunch. 
Sometimes it's difficult to tie a particular line of dialog and how
it's framed and reframed conversationally unless that particular
transcript is online.  If after reviewing the links you find Dr.
Jamison is indeed the author you're seeking, you can drop me a note
here and I'll post this as a formal answer.

In the meantime, here are a couple audio streams of interviews with
Dr. Jamison, who also wrote "Touched by Fire," a book dealing with
bipolar illness and the creative spirit.  Publishers Weekly reviews it
here and a photo of Dr. Jamison is also displayed:
http://tinyurl.com/i7b0 (redirect)

Audio samples:  (Real Player required)
http://www.omroep.nl/cgi-bin/streams?/rnw/HollandEN/030112stigma1.rm
http://www.npr.org/ramfiles/fa/20010105.fa.01.ram

A pleasure to assist you,
V

Dear aussiepup,

If the remarks of my friend and colleague voila-ga have been useful,
you might consider asking voila to re-post this information as a
formal answer. Otherwise voila will receive no compensation for the
thought and time that have gone into this interesting thread.

I know that voila is too humble to bring this up, so I wanted to put
in a good word for one of GA's hardest-working and most helpful
Researchers.

~pinkfreud (also a GAR, but far from humble)

Oh, Pinkie, you make me sound so very James Brown in your post.  I
hope I conveyed to the pup I'm not above collecting the bounty for
this question;  I just want to make sure Jamison is the author. 
Sometimes you get a flavor for phrasing and it sounded like something
she may have said, but it was a complete and utter WAG.  I've been so
far out in left field before that the cows don't even know me.