You've probably heard it a hundred times: "Boy, I feel really bipolar today." However, bipolar disorder is a serious mental illness, and using the phrase "bipolar" like this out of context, so that it just means something like "unstable" person, can be very hurtful to people who actually have the condition. In this article, I will discuss what the condition actually is, and why the misuse of the term is hurtful.
What Bipolar Disorder Actually Is
Bipolar disorder is a mood disorder that causes people to have periods of high mood, called mania or hypomania and periods of low mood, called depression. For most people with the condition, these mood episodes occur less than four times per year, and they can last several months.
Bipolar disorder is mostly a genetic disorder, and virtually everyone with the disorder has some history of it in the family. It is currently incurable, but can be managed using medication and therapy.
Even with current treatments, however, bipolar disorder can be very debilitating. Unemployment rates are very high among people with the condition, as episodes can damage functioning. Manic episodes often require hospitalization, and living with the condition is a lifelong struggle.
Why Some Uses of "Bipolar" Are Hurtful
Often, the word "bipolar" is used simply to mean "unstable". Just today, I found an article referring to President Karzai of Afghanistan as being "bipolar" because of his shifts in policy. Other times it refers to whenever someone feels moody, and it is often directed at women.
However, using the term in this way trivializes the illness, treating the condition as though it is a laughing matter. Bipolar disorder is not something that just happens when someone is in a strange mood. It is something that greatly impacts people's lives. Having something that impacts people so greatly treated as a joke trivializes the experiences of those living with the condition.
Moreover, "bipolar" isn't just used trivially. It is used as a term of abuse. When people call other people "bipolar", they are intending it as an insult. However, when a disease is used to insult other people, the implication is that there is something bad about people who actually have the disease. By using the term as an insult, it insults not only the person being targeted, but all bipolar people as well.
Conclusion
Please be careful when using the term "bipolar" outside of its normal context. The stigma that the mentally ill face is very difficult, and using the term either trivially or insultingly both underestimates the seriousness of the condition and treats all bipolar people as objects of ridicule. There is no need to insult and mock millions of people just to get a laugh.
Daniel W. Bader, Ph.D. was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 1997, and now works as the webmaster and primary author of the site Bipolar Today, where he provides information, news and blog posts about bipolar disorder. Articles include discussions of bipolar disorder in popular culture, such as a recent article about the television show "Homeland" called Bipolar Disorder in the Mainstream: "Homeland" (Spoiler Alert).
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