The Bipolar Family Treatment Center is part of the Zirinsky Mood Disorders Center in The Department of Psychiatry at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City. The history of each is below.

The Zirinsky Mood Disorders Center was founded with generous gift from Ms. Cynthia Zirinsky in memory of her husband Mr. Richard Zirinsky. Ms. Zirinsky is one of the leading advocates of the mentally ill in New York City and for many years worked to change attitudes about mental illness, and to improve services for children and adults with psychiatric disabilities. She and her late husband founded the Gracie Square Hospital, in New York City, and supported both clinical care and research in mood disorders.

The Zirinsky Center specializes in the treatment of all mood disorders using state-of-the-art approaches, including pharmacotherapy, psychotherapy, and electro-convulsive therapy. Center staff are actively engaged in teaching psychiatry and psychology trainees in all of the currently used modalities of treatment. In addition, Center staff are developing and conducting a number of research projects in mood disorders.

One of the programs in the Zirinsky Center is The Bipolar Family Treatment Center dedicated specifically to treatment of bipolar illness in the context of the family. The Center’s clinical program is based on the conviction that preserving family health and stability is an essential part of successful treatment - just as it is in chronic medical illness, like diabetes. Thus, when patient and family/friends/caregivers are interested, the program uses Family-Inclusive Treatment (FIT) to care for both patients with bipolar illness and these close others -- at every step along the patient's way to wellness. Similarly to Family Doctors who treat medical illnesses, in the Bipolar Family Treatment Center, Family Psychiatrists treat bipolar illness.

The Department of Psychiatry at Beth Israel Medical Center began in the early 1960s when a handful of voluntary psychiatrists held a weekly clinic and made consultations in the general hospital. In 1967 Beth Israel opened its first inpatient psychiatric unit and hired a full-time Director of Psychiatry. The residency training program began in 1969.

In the mid 1980s the Psychiatry department expanded into four inpatient units: two in general psychiatry, a geriatric unit and a unit for patients with both psychiatric and addiction disorders (dual diagnosis). The outpatient service grew into a large program providing 40,000 to 50,000 visits a year.

The Beth Israel Hospital was founded in 1889 on the lower East Side of Manhattan as a Jewish hospital with the mission to serve the local community of poor immigrants from the Eastern Europe. The majority were Russian Jews who immigrated to the United States fleeing repression and pogroms with the hope of starting new life in America. In 1929 Beth Israel moved "uptown" to its current location at 16th Street and Stuyvesant Park. At the time, the what is now Dazian building, was hailed as the tallest hospital building in the world was far ahead of its time in terms of hospital design.

The hospital grew tremendously in the 1950s and in 1962 became a full-fledged Medical Center. In 1997 Beth Israel became part of Continuum Health Partners, a non-profit hospital system that now includes four other institutions: St. Luke’s Hospital, Roosevelt Hospital, Long Island College Hospital, and New York Eye and Ear Infirmary. Continuum has over 3,000 hospital beds in major facilities in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Beth Israel Medical Center acts a University Hospital and Manhattan Campus for the Albert Einstein College of Medicine.