Dr Ghaemi is a lecturer on psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, Cambridge Health Alliance, and is employed by Bristol Myers Squibb. His latest book, Soul on Fire, explores Martin Luther King Jr and the Psychology of Nonviolence. Views shared by Dr Ghaemi are his own and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of his employers.
In the second century ad, a brilliant physician had a powerful idea: 4 humours, in varied combinations, produced all illness. From that date until the late 19th century, Galen's theory ruled medicine. Its corollary was that the treatment of disease involved getting the humours back in order; releasing them through bloodletting was the most common procedure and was often augmented with other means of freeing bodily fluids (eg, purgatives and laxatives).
Ronald Fieve and his colleagues were among the first to document milder versions of manic symptoms-hypomania-in the 1970s, observations that did not make it into DSM until 1994.This book appears mainly to be intended for families and patients; clinicians might find some parts simplistic and other parts informative.
A discussion of the recent research on the use of antidepressants in bipolar disorder (BD), and the methodologic principles that should guide this aspect of psychopharmacology.