The first time bipolar disorder was described as a specific condition all its own, separate from the other forms of "hysteria" and "melancholia" was in 1851, when French psychiatrist Jean-Pierre Falret described what he called folie circulaire, or "circular madness" in which patients cycles through depression, mania, and a period free of disorder.

In 1899, German psychiatrist Emil Kraepelin-who is often referred to as the father of modern psychiatry- took this concept a step further. He differentiated between what he called "dementia praecox" (known today as schizophrenia) and "manic depressive insanity," and gave psychiatrists the tools by which to differentiate between two conditions that can at times seem similar. At the same time, however, he took a step backward, as it were, by bringing together both the unipolar and bipolar forms of depression under the single manic-depressive umbrella.

Still, the moniker stuck. And thrived. In fact, good number of the people who have the disorder today were likely diagnosed not with bipolar disorder, but with manic-depressive illness. Even now, if you talk about bipolar disorder, you might get a blank stare. But say, "You know, manic-depression," and the lightbulb will go off.

It wasn't until 1966 that not one, but two publications detailed the differences between bipolar and unipolar depressions in much the same way Falret had done. Falret's idea of bipolar disorder had been reborn, and the term "manic-depression" began to lose momentum. By 1980, when the American Psychiatric Association (AMA) published the third edition of its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, or DSM, the name change an - and the shift in perspective- had become official. (The DSM is currently in its fourth edition, the DSM-IV, which was unveiled in 1994).

This was an excerpt from the book "Taming Bipolar Disorder" - by Lori Oliwenstein