I think, when someone asks me what Bipolar is, i find it so difficult to explain it to them.
For instance My friend Jodie and me had this conversation.
Jodie "So what is Bipolar."
Me "It where you have severe moodswings."
Jodie "So its not like depression?"
Me "Yes i suffer very bad depression, just not all the time."
Jodie "so its better than having depression?"
Me "No, because the other side is you go so mental (this is how i see it) that you dont know whats happening, you think you're great and everything is great."
Jodie "Well everyone goes through moodswings, i think kerri has that, one minutes she is fine the next she is not."
Me "That is just moodswings, kerri is normal, then every now and then she gets really angry for about 6 hours, and that is for a reason she just cant deal with it well."
Jodie "But sometimes she talks a lot and sometimes she is really quiet."
Me "She's quiet all the time, except when she is really drunk, you never get a time where you cant get a word in edgeways and she is talking about the price of oranges with the supermarket checkout lady."
Jodie "I dont get it."
Me "Dont worry."

Without living Bipolar and completely researching it, its actually impossible to understand.
No matter how many times i read it before diagnosis, i would talk myself in and out and in and out of believing if i did have it before.
All they get told is that it is moodswings, which everyone has, but it doesnt affect their lives, so they never get to the point of needing to get help or researching it.
I used to think i was an insomniac because i didnt sleep much, i didnt realise that insomniac would sleep at ALL.
These people are sometimes ignorant, if they are claiming they have it, when we know they clearly dont, therefore obviously dont even know what it is.
But some are just innocent as they have never HAD to know what it was so therefore shouldnt really be expected to use the word wisely.