Apparently, February 14 marks the origin of the concept of bipolar disorder. On this date in 1854, Jean-Pierre Falret presented the first description of bipolar disorder as a mental illness to the French Imperial Academy of Medicine. What he defined was a circular illness punctuated by manic and melancholic episodes that were separated by symptom-free periods.
In their 2000 research paper, “Historical Perspectives and the Natural History of Bipolar Disorder,” authors Jules Angst, MD and Robert Sellaro, BSc, wrote, “we owe the categorization of bipolar disorder as an illness to Falret.” Today, according to the National Institute of Mental Health, 5.6 million American adults suffer from bipolar disorder.
Thanks for the history lesson, very interesting. I’m happy you doing well.
Wow that was strange. I just wrote an very long comment but after I clicked submit my comment didn’t appear. Grrrr… well I’m not writing all that over again.
Anyway, just wanted to say fantastic blog!