i don't really use technical terms.

most of the time, i like to come up with some creative way of describing my moods... i like using the elevator description for when i'm extremely low and depressed- like being in an elevator and the door won't open- same with the thoughts, their is no way for them to escape- so that's where the elevator comes from

with mania, i usually describe it as a rollercoaster going round on a track too fast- and it just does not stop at the station.. just shoots through the open space smashing in to all the other trains as it passes