Bipolar Disorder History

What is bipolar disorder?

Bipolar disorder is also known as manic depressive ailment which shows the symptoms in the patient's moods like shifts in moods, ability of a person and fluctuation in energy levels. These problems can be of severe nature causing disturbance to daily life and functionality.

The patients are making complaints of uncontrolled moods and disrupted dispositions along with no justification about being there any particular reaction. Their thinking is diverted often and many times in a day with upset mindset and reduced ability to perform assigned or desired tasks. Their disposition is totally affected and swings from one way to the other. For instance, if they are relaxed for quite some time, they will suddenly feel hopelessness, grief or sorrow, happiness, anxiety, or disgruntled.

People with bipolar disorder can be treated if diagnosed properly with more concentration on their mood shifts which causes others irritation. Their treatment requires a comprehensive strategy to control their mood shift in order to stabilize this fluctuation. They are advised with a psychosocial treatment coupled with medication. This is workable for optimum benefit utilization for achieving longer stability in their disposition.

It is a bit complex to recognize that either a person is really affected with this disorder or not. Any reaction of a person can be emotional and can last for some hours or days depending on its severity. But that doesn't mean that the particular person suffers from bipolar disorder or manic depression.

Since there are some stages of the mental disease, no one can say it for sure including family members, colleagues, friends or doctors. Other important thing to note is that the affected person has no idea and he doesn't know his reactions. The person with irrational behavior has no idea that what he has been doing was either good or wrong and he doesn't remember those actions either.

History of bipolar disorder

The history of bipolar disorder is very old. Even the documented history of bipolar disorder is as ancient as it links back to the ancient Greek. Mania and melancholia which are the extreme moods were clearly identified even at that time. First time a Greek physician, Aretaeus of Cappadocia, mentioned that these moods are part of the same illness. They should not be thought as separate. However, this view gained momentum much later in history. There were considerable changes in how the people who were suffering from bipolar depression should be cared for in Paris during the 18th century. So, with more compassionate treatment, there was more emphasis on the observation and documentation of the illness. Due to this emphasis, there was a revival between the mania and depression. Only due to this detailed clinical records, some important re-connections were made.

Jean Pierre, who was a French psychiatrist in 1850 observed bipolar disorder as "folie circulaire". In this way, Jean Pierre highlighted the circular nature of bipolar disorder because the bipolar disorder changes from mania to depression. The literal meaning of the word "Folie" in French is madness, mania, insanity or craziness. So, the literal meaning of the word Folie Ciculaire is circulating insanity.

A French neurologist, Jules Baillarger, also mentioned that these extreme changes are part of the same illness. They should not be considered separate. The word maniac depressive illness was first used by the German psychiatrist Emil Kraepelin in 1899. In 1953, another German psychologist separated out unipolar depression. As a result, the term bipolar disorder came into existence.