History of bipolar disorder

Bipolar disorder is a mood disorder recognised by the American Psychiatric Association and listed under the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-IV-TR) along with a complete set of criteria which is used across the world for diagnostic purposes. However Bipolar disorder wasn’t always listed in the DSM or even known by this name. Over centuries the knowledge and recognition of this mental disorder has evolved and grown.

The first recorded mention of Bipolar disorder is attributed to Aretaeus from the ancient city of Cappadocia in Turkey as far back as the second century. Arataeus recognised some symptoms of both mania and depression and felt that they could be linked to each other. However in the second century there was no support of this theory and these important findings were ignored.

The next appearance of Bipolar disorder in academic discussions was several centuries later in 1650. Scientist Richard Burton wrote and published the book ‘The Anatomy of Melancholia’, the first to successfully describe the condition of depression. In fact, this book is still used as a key reference in the mental health field and Burton is known as the Father of Depression as a mental illness.

2 centuries later, in 1854, Jules Falret introduced the term ‘folie circulaire’ which literally means circular insanity. This was because Falret had understood the difference between moments of depression and the times when the mood was heightened. Jules Falret also supported the idea that depression and suicide were linked together. In 1875, Falret’s findings were officially termed as Manic-Depressive Psychosis, a recognised psychiatric disorder. Falret was also the first to observe that the condition was often present in certain families and thus recognised the genetic linkage of the disorder.

There was also a scientist Francois Baillarger who indicated the very important difference between bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.

In 1913, Emil Krapelin gave the field of mental health the term Manic-Depressive and studied the effects of the manic and depressive episodes. The unique approach to the mental illness became fully accepted during this time period and was the most widely theory in the early 1930′s.

In 1948 Dr. John Cade, an Australian psychiatrist was successfully able to discover the positive effects of Lithium Carbonate to treat manic-depressive psychosis. Even today Lithium Carbonate is used as a medication for Bipolar disorder.

In 1952 The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disorder analyzed the genetics of the disorder and through the 1960′s those afflicted with it were institutionalised with little help. This was because the Congress refused to recognise manic depression as a legitimate illness. It was only in the 1970′s that laws were established and enacted to help mentally ill patients and in 1979 the National Association of Mental Health was founded.

In 1980 the term manic depressive disorder was changed to Bipolar disorder and was listed in the DSM.