About ISBD

History

Bipolar disorder is a severe and debilitating mental illness, whichhas only recently started to receive the necessary attention from society, researchers, practitioners, government, and private funding agencies. In response to the need for further awareness, education, and research on this severe mental illness, the InternationalSociety for Bipolar Disorders was created. The Society has as its missions the promotion of awareness of this condition in society atlarge, promotion of awareness and education about this condition among mental healthprofessionals, fostering research on all aspects of bipolar disorder, and promotion of international collaboration in this area.

The International Society for Bipolar Disorders was launched at the III International Conference on Bipolar Disorder, in Pittsburgh, PA, June 17, 1999 by David J. Kupfer, M.D., President. Material distributed to all of the delegates at the conference contained an invitation letter and an enrollment form.

The first issue (September, 1999) of Bipolar Disorders - An International Journal of Psychiatry and Neurosciences, which is the official journal of the Society, contained a similar enrollment form. The journal was accepted into the Institute for Scientific Indexing in 2000 and into Medline and Index Medicus in 2001 and received its fourth impact factor of 4.812 in 2006, ranking it 11th out of 94 rated psychiatric journals. The Society is growing in membership with an elected board representing 10 countries. The ISBD is a major source for emerging research and clinical data on bipolar disorders and is the only bipolar focused, research-oriented Society working to bring this data to patients, families and other mental health professionals working on the front lines of bipolar care.