Varying moods and energy levels are an integral part of the human experience. Words such as depression (previously known as melancholia) and mania come from ancient Greek and Roman languages. The ups and downs of life, even in their extremes, have been documented and studied throughout history.
History of Melancholia and Mania
Melancholia is a term that was used to describe depression. It comes from the Greek words ‘melas’ (black) and ‘chole’ (bile) which were used in pre-Hippocratic humoral theories. Mania was used to describe the manic state which physicians of the time thought came from either “an excess of yellow bile or a mixture of black and yellow bile”. There is no definite known origin for the word mania; it seems to have a number of possibilities. The Roman physician Caelius Aurelianus stated that the origin is from the Greek words ‘ania’ (developing great mental anguish) and ‘manos’ (relaxed or loose mind). These are not the only candidates for the word mania. The term has an incredibly varied definition in pre-Hippocratic poetry and mythology so the true origin remains a mystery.
Link between Mania and Melancholia
There are many historical documents about mania and melancholia. The earliest known is believed to have come from the 2nd century AD when Soranus of Ephesus (98-177 AD) indicated his belief that mania and melancholia were distinct diseases. Physicians in early Chinese history recognized and wrote about bipolar disorder as a mental illness. Gao Lian, an early Chinese historian wrote about bipolar illness in “Eight Treatises on the Nurturing of Life”.
Earliest Written Descriptions
Aretaeus of Cappadocia (an eclectic medical philosopher who lived in Alexandria between 30 and 150 AD) is believed responsible for earliest written descriptions that note some link between mania and melancholia (depression). There are some texts that still remain that detail his ideas and research into mental illness, including an idea of unified manic-depression. The idea behind his research was that of the illnesses being a result of excess in ‘black bile’ meaning that they are related, even conjoined. Research that followed his works were directed toward the connection between the two illnesses previously believed to be distinct.
Contemporary Psychiatric Conceptualization
The way we view manic-depressive illness is actually not very modern, it came about in the 1850s. Many new ideas about bipolarity came out during this time period. Jules Baillarger gave a lecture to the French Imperial Academy of Medicine regarding biphasic mental illness in 1854 that dealt with manic and depressive cycling that was followed by a presentation by Jean-Pierre Falret. They discussed the same topic but the Falret disorder was named “folie circulaire” (circular insanity).
Manic-Depressive Psychosis
German psychiatrist, Emil Kraepelin, is thought of as the “father of the modern concept of bipolar disorder”. He was responsible for classifying the way bipolar behaves in untreated patients even before the idea of mood stabilizing medications ever came into the field. He was responsible for introducing the phrase “manic depressive psychosis” and the concept that intervals between episodes were symptom-free.
Oldest Known
Bipolar disorder is one of the oldest known illnesses. Francois Baillarger believed there was some sort of connection between bipolar disorder and schizophrenia and researched the depressive stage of the disease to that end. Thanks to his research, bipolar disorder got its own classification from other mental disorders of the time and doctors began to research better treatment options.
Run Down of Mental Disorders
In 1952, an article appeared in The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disorder that took into account the genetics behind the disorder and revealed the possibility that manic depression could be tracked in families stricken with the disorder. During the 1960’s, many with the disorder were institutionalized and given little assistance because of Congress’ refusal to recognize manic-depression as legitimate illness.
Things changed in the early 1970’s when new laws came into play and general standards were established to assist those afflicted. The moment finally arrives for bipolar disorder patients in 1979 when the National Association of Mental Health (NAMI) was founded. In 1980 the term bipolar disorder substituted manic-depressive disorder as a diagnostic term found in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association (DSM-III). Finally, studies were able to distinguish between adult and childhood bipolar disorder. At present, more studies are required to find the exact causes and best routines to treat the illness as researchers look for a real cure.
