Past Treatment Options for Bipolar Disorder

In ancient times, treatment of bipolar disorder included bleeding, inducing vomiting and rest and relaxation in curative mineral waters. These treatments continued to be used for thousands of years, though more pernicious treatments such as sterilization and institutionalization also were used. With industrialization came additional treatments utilizing electricity in a primitive form of electroshock treatment and increasing sedation of patients. This all changed in the 1950s, when the drug lithium was found to be an effective treatment option. Today's modern mental health pharmaceuticals trace their ancestries to such drugs.

Ancient Cures: Black Bile Remedies

• During ancient times, bipolar disorder was thought to be a symptom of too much black bile. Some treatments to alleviate black bile included bleeding and inducing patients to throw up.

Ancient Cures: Sacrifice and Rest

• Another way thought to cure bipolar disorder was through praying to gods and offering sacrifices, as well as rest and relaxation in mineral waters.

Victorian Treatments

• Even through Victorian times, doctors gave patients the herb black hellebore to induce vomiting. Victorian doctors also tried out other medicines, including morphine, digitalis and hemlock juice.

Early Modern Treatments

• In the early modern period, treatments such as institutionalization and sterilization were seen as treatments for bipolar disorder, as was a primitive form of electroshock therapy.

1954: Success with Lithium

• In 1954, doctors used the drug lithium on patients with bipolar disorder. It was more successful than any treatment used before.

Modern Treatments

• After the effectiveness of lithium was noted, other drugs that affected brain chemistry were developed. These include Lithium Carbonate, which interestingly enough, is in the mineral waters that doctors recommended patients with bipolar disorder during ancient times.