Note:

Below you will find a few suggestions for searching this topic. These suggestions aren't the only way to find materials, but they may help to get you started.

Bipolar Disorder

I. Find Background in Reference Sources

  • International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences
    Note the section Introduction and Historical Background within the entry. There may be some sources mentioned that you will want to try to find at the library. Ask us!
  • You might also check out the entries in the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Psychiatric Disorders)*
  • Start with DSM-V -- Open Section II to read the description of Biopolar Disorder.
  • If you wish, you can also go to Previous Editions to find out when it first appeared in the DSM. Has the description changed?

Note: These are pdfs. Open the links and use Ctrl F to search for the term “bipolar” in the manual.

II. Search the Library Catalog

To find scientific (psychiatric) texts, histories, and “popular” materials (written for non-specialists) along with some primary sources (memoirs, autobiographies)

Steps:

  1. Go to the library catalog.
  2. Type in "Bipolar Disorder"
  3. Under Limit Your Search (left-hand menu) scroll down to open "Genre" and "more" to find histories, case studies, popular (non-scholarly) texts, fiction, poetry, and more. 

III. Find current Scholarly Journal Articles (secondary sources)

Suggested search:

  1. On the first line, enter "Bipolar disorder"
  2. On the next line, add the term, "history"

IV. Find articles about bipolar disorder in current, popular* magazines.

* "Popular magazines," in this context mean, non-scholarly, written for the general public.

  • Proquest Research Library
    Enter your search terms, "bipolar disorder;"
    Place quotation marks around phrases;
    From the list of results, filter to Magazines; and select a time period;
    Under Publication Titles, select "more" to select specific magazine titles of interest.

V. Finding historical newspaper articles

How much was bipolar disorder discussed in the popular press in the past? Was there another term used (mania? monomania?)

Steps:

  1. Select the Advanced Search.
  2. Add your search terms
  3. Scroll down to choose Document types.
  4. Use the date limits on the right to restrict your results to a particular date range.

V. Find more articles about the history of biopolar disorder

Historical articles would be primary sources because they show how a condition or disease was understood at the time. Question! Was it called something else or described differently? Try those terms too.