Whether we use the phrase "I am" or "I have" Bipolar Disorder, I still feel short changed. The concept of bipolar as a psychiatric disorder somehow evades the existential reality that what I live with is a whole lot bigger than the description summarized in a diagnostic manual. In the absence of a better short description, I reluctantly go along with either term, knowing that misunderstanding is practically inevitable until I have had plenty of time to paint a clearer picture.