The etymology of melancholia and mania came from ancient Greece. The Greek physician Soranus, in 200 A.D. also acknowledged that melancholia may be a disease of mania but he also described both melancholia and mania as distinct illnesses with different causes. In the meantime, another Greek physician Arateus of Cappadocia recognized both symptoms and contemplated if they are however related.
A lot of people consider the book of Richard Burton in 1650 , The Anatomy of Melancholia, a milestone in bipolar disorder because of his discussions about depression. That work is considered as a classic today and many acknowledge him now as the “father of depression as a mental illness”.
Despite the long history of bipolar disorder, its clear conceptualization of manic-depressive condition was only formed in the 1850s. Jules Baillarger and Jean-Pierre Fairet both competing scientists tried to take credit on who conceptualized the dual phase of mania and melancholia first.
When the term “manic-depressive psychosis” was coined by German psychiatrist Emil Kraepelin in 1913, it was considered a milestone in bipolar disorder. His observations of the untreated bipolar disorder reveal that during their bouts of manic depressive stages, there were intervals wherein they are symptom-free and they can cope normally with their day to day functions.
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Meanwhile, to treat patients with manic-depressive psychosis by lithium carbonate was initiated by Dr. After the World War II, John Cade. Hospitals in the 50s have started experimenting lithium on their patients to test its effectivity. However, it was only in the 1970’s when the US Food and Drug Administration approved the use of lithium as a medication.
Bipolar disorder has been institutionalized only in 1968, despite its long existence in history dating back to 200 AD, after it was in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders first revision in 1968. In the 1980 DSM-III revision, the term manic-depressive illness was finally changed to bipolar disorder.
