BIPOLAR DISORDER ANGELITA BUTLER

Bipolar disorder is sometimes called manic- depressive disorder. Bipolar disorder is associated with mood swings that range from the lows of depression to the highs of mania. When you are depressed you can feel sad and hopeless, lose interest and pleasure in most activities. Sometimes when your mood shifts in the other direction, you can feel euphoric and full of energy. This can happen a few times a year, or every day. Bipolar disorder causes symptoms of depression and mania at the same time. Bipolar disorder is a disruptive, long – term condition you should be able to keep your moods in check with a treatment plan. Bipolar disorder can be controlled with medications and psychological therapy.( www.mayoclinic.org 1998-2014).
Aretaeus of Cappadocia began the quest into the disorder as early as the 1st Century in Greece. The link between mania and depression went unnoticed for many centuries. The ancient Greeks and Romans were responsible for the terms “mania and melancholia” which are now the modern day manic and depressive. They also discovered that using lithium salts in bath calmed manic patients and lifted the spirts of depressed people. Lithium is used to treat bipolar patients. During this time it was common for people with bipolar disorder to be executed because they were possessed by demons. Bipolar disorder was not discovered until a French psychiatrist Jean – Pierre Fairet published an article in 1851. He named bipolar disorder “la folie circularize” which means circular insanity. The article explained about patients switching through severe depression and manic excitement and is considered the first documented diagnosis of bipolar disorder. Kraepelin’s Manic Depressive Insanity and Paranoia in 1921 detailed the difference between manic – depressive and praecox