If you could give Bipolar Disorder another name...

....what would you choose?

I feel as though this article makes a great point behind why "bipolar" just doesn't cut it in terms of describing the condition for many who have it. (You don't have to read this to answer, it's just what inspired my question.)

http://mcmanweb.com/bipolar_disorder.html

Idk I think bp covers it pretty well maybe crazy fun down time lol

I think the old term ("manic depressive") was good enough, although it, too, does not describe everything.

Well you can't have a name that pins it all down or that would be a long *** name. Lol

Agreed. That long name would need to include problems with self-care, anxiety, cognitive problems experienced during depressions, problems with TODO lists that many people have - a whole lot of things that are not just about being on one pole or the other.

Bipolar Disorder may suit a lot of people, but I feel for me "BI-polar" is very deceptive. It seems to me that there are just too many poles, multipolar, and too many in-between states and mixtures. For me, what I experience just isn't a binary I'm either this or that.

Like Hamster I feel as though "manic depression" was good enough.


I hope that one day we'll know about the roots of the disorder enough to give it an accurate name based on the underlying mechanics. That may just not even be possible, though.

I am hearing you on that. Sometimes I feel as though bipolar is just the 'kitchen sink' of mental disorders, so may of its symptoms mimic other conditions such as unipolar depression, anxiety, panic, psychosis, ADHD, etc.

But then again, that might not be fair considering that all affective disorders effectively over lap with one another. I don't consider myself having GAD, or Panic Disorder, or ADD, or even depression because I think bipolar just about covers it all. That may be why I think saying I have two poles just doesn't cut it.

Agreed maybe multipolar disorder maybe better.

Things like this article make me realize how much variation there is in BP among different people. What he was describing didn't resonate for me at all. Maybe because he is BP 1 (is he?) and I am BP 2? On the other hand, I have read other things written by BP folks and I'm like, "Yes! That's it!"

I don't know about another name for BP. I'm just glad they dropped the word "insanity!"

Best,
EJ

McMan calls it "bi-chronicity" due to the time warps. I like that. Fast or slow, but nowhere in between. Thats me.

I call mine the "Big Ugly".

mentally ill does not cover it
it needs to be defined
i don't know quite how to say
that there's something wrong with my mind

I think that the term manic depressive does pretty good
bipolar seems to minimize it
it does not do the justice it should

maybe something like manic - depressive - anxiety and emotional disorder would be better......
something that includes emotional hell would be good.

I prefer Manic Depressive, it's more appropriate than Bipolr. Also I'm sure people wont say 'geez the weather's so Manic Depressive today' I personally like Multipolar Rollercoaster Disorder

Nah. Sounds too fun.
It is quite the tongue twister! Maybe the level of one's mania could be gauged by how many times one could say it in a minute.

I like this one. If I could describe mine it would be:

Slow-Fast-Slow-Fast-Worldwind Waves Spectrum

They are like waves, these moods. Like a multimood disorder, not just "bi". There are a lot more moods I feel than two. Its like a spectrum of colors that is not just black and white.

I like Clinte's choice, although I agree with several of you that manic-depressive is a better description than bipolar. To me, bipolar suggests nothing in between, and my brain sends me in many more directions than one end or the other.
Bluemountains

I suggested Supercalidownilisticupialidocious here before... Nope still didn't catch on

Describing any quality that is so indescribable that you have no real word to describe it with.. Sounds about right.

i can't think of a name.... so i'll stick to bipolar.

i'm not exactly creative.... lol

As somebody who's studied political history... I dun't like the term bipolar. It makes me think if calm but oh-my-if-it-goes-wrong-it-really-goes-WRONG-and-****-burns. I am not mutually assuredly destructive, thank you very much.

I call myself troubled and intense.

I like Supercalidownilisticupialidocious too.