Bipolar Disorder History - How the Ancient Greeks Discovered Manic Depression

Bipolar disorder is theorized to be an evolutionaryillnesses to be a flaw in moral character.
adaptation to colder climates, therefore it should comeFor this reason, biphasic mental illness was not
as no surprised that this illness has a recorded historyrediscovered until 1854, by the French doctor Jules
going back 2000 years. It used to be that everyoneBaillarger, who described the differences between
who wasn't normal was just called crazy or they maymania and depression, and how they shifted in persons
have been considered to be possessed by evil spirits,with the illness.
as mental illnesses weren't well understood long ago.Emil Kraepelin was a German psychiatrist and the first
The words "depression" and "mania" have their originsto term the illness "manic depressive psychosis." He
in Ancient Greek, and by 100 AD Ephesus, a Greekobserved patients with periods of extreme depression
historian, described depression and mania linked intoand mania, intermixed with periods that were symptom
one disease. It was not until 1025 that Avicenna, whofree.
was a Persian physician, identified a number of mentalIt was not until 1948 that a treatment plan was devised
disorders, such as schizophrenia, bipolar, and mania.for bipolar disorder. Lithium carbonate was developed
With the stigma of mental disorder, any research intoby Dr. John Cade of Melbourne, Australia, offering
this illness largely went unnoticed. After all, mosthope to those suffering from a disease that had been
individuals didn't want to be classified as mentallystigmatized for thousands of years.
insane, and most would have considered mental