Did you know, the Ancient Greeks thought Bipolar Disorder was a divine gift?
2 of the first human diseases described by the classical Greek physicians are mania and melancholia. Jules Angst and Andreas Marneros wrote a paper that scoured ancient writings for observations about Bipolar disorder. They found that a review of pre-Hippocratic era manuscripts revealed descriptions of 'morbid states of depression and exaltation', in other words, extreme lows and extreme highs - sound familiar?
Hippocrates, known as 'The Father of Medicine' (Doctors still swear the Hippocratic oath), theorized that the brain was the organ in charge of mental functions, disturbances and disorders. He wrote -
'The people ought to know that the brain is the sole origin of pleasures and joys, laughter and jests, sadness and worry as well as dysphoria and differentiate between feeling ashamed, good, bad, happy. Through the brain we become insane, enraged, we develop anxiety and fears, which can come in the night or during the day, we suffer from sleeplessness, we make mistakes and have unfounded worries, we loose the ability to recognise reality, we become apathetic and we cannot participate in social life. We suffer all those mentioned above through the brain when it is ill' - I know I can relate to all of those feelings described!
To Socrates and Plato, mania was a 'divine state'. In fact, Plato wrote that there are 2 types of mania, one that involves 'a mental strain that arises from a bodily cause of origin' and the other is 'divine or inspired, with Apollo as the source of the inspiration'. He went on to describe several additional types of divine mania, including 'erotic inspiration' sent by the God of love and 'protreptic inspiration' that comes from Muses because it seems to inspire men to sing, sketch, paint and write. Again, when manic I can personally relate to all of these 'divinely inspired' states at one time or another.
The philosopher Democritus asked Hippocrates 'Why are extraordinary men in philosophy, politics or the arts Melancholics?' After many discussions Hippocrates concluded that Democritus did not suffer from Melancholic - he was simply a genius. Have you ever noticed how many people with Bipolar Disorder are artistic and/or geniuses? I have found I have extreme bouts of creativity and productivity during manic episodes and there are many famous creative 'geniuses' who have been diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder.
While I'm not a genius in any sense of the word, I like to consider myself divinely inspired from time to time - had I not been burdened with this illness, I wouldn't have the extensive knowledge that I do and know myself so incredibly well. I do also know though, that while I enjoy my creativity, my body and brain cannot maintain the manic pace for an extended period of time and these episodes never happen without a depressive episode following closely on its heels. For me, managing to find the balance between the highs and the lows is the sweet spot where I get the best work done without wanting to cut my ear off in the process (as one of our predecessors did). Working with my Doctor, taking my meds, exercising, eating well, getting out amongst nature and having proper sleep give me the ability to use the divine gift for the good.
I think the ancient Greeks were on to something - we are divinely inspired. Lets celebrate, not that we have Bipolar Disorder, but just that we are part of an amazing club filled with artists, musicians, philosophers, writers and businessmen and women. I hope this inspires you to be the best that you can be - not perfect, not a genius - just a divinely inspired you.