Why Did Manic Depression Become Bipolar Disorder?

by Kimberly Read Why did the disease name "manic depression" change to "bipolar disorder?" It's a good question, and requires a short history lesson. First, the phrase "manic depression" has its origins rooted in Ancient Greek where the coupling of the words was used as early as the first century to describe symptoms of mental illness. On her book, Bipolar Expeditions: Mania and Depression in American Culture, author Emily Martin writes, "Its history goes back to the ancient Greeks, who thought that the health of the body was related to the four body humors: blood, phlegm, choler (yellow bile), and black bile. Because one’s character and health reflected whichever of these fluids was preponderant, a person could be sanguine, phlegmatic, choleric (bilious), or melancholic. Some traits that would look like depression today belonged to the melancholic humor and some that would look like mania today belonged to the choleric humor. The Greeks believed that mental derangement could involve ...  more