Mood disorders are common, painful, and closely tied to suicide and alcohol and substance use. They are also treatable. Mania and depression, a part of the human record for as long as it has been kept, were well-recognized and described by physicians of antiquity. Our knowledge of mood disorders has broadened and deepened in the many centuries since those early times, and crosses many scientific and clinical fields, including genetics, neuropharmacology, neuroimaging, psychopathology, and neuropsychology. We have as well a rich history of personal narratives of depression and bipolar disorder that gives a different but essential perspective; I present several of these accounts here.