I work with a young man who doesn’t believe it’s important to study history, and that overall context is not important to his life. I find this strange, as what he is doesn’t get, is that he, and all of us, can never escape history. We make it, so we may as well embrace it:
“Historical knowledge is no more and no less than carefully and critically constructed collective memory. As such it can both make us wiser in our public choices and more richly human in our private lives.”—William H. McNeill, Why Study History? (1985).
What does studying history have to do with bipolar disorder? A lot, I say. There’s the big picture, of course. Learning about the history of how bipolar and other mental disorders were discovered, approached, and treated throughout time by people in a variety of cultures offers us insight to human behavior, understanding, cruelty, and kindness.
We all have individual and family history, too. Maybe we don’t think of our personal experience as “history”, but it is. From our childhood, to what we did 5 minutes ago, everything we’ve done, or were part of, becomes a bit piece in the history of who we are and what makes up the story of our lives. This includes the history of us as folks living with bipolar.
This is why I feel so strongly that the treatment of bipolar and other disorders be holistic, and approached from a perspective of context, not just "correction" of brain chemistry and the training of coping skills. Medication and cognitive-behavioral training have their place, undoubtedly, but cannot be used alone.
Knowing your place in the world and in your own life brings about healing.
Have you found healing from history?