Please stop using "Bipolar" as an adjective.
Have you ever heard someone say, "Watch out for him today, he's being so bipolar" or "My boss is being so bipolar" or even "I can't decide which shoes to buy, I'm being so bipolar about it"?
While it might seem like a harmless figure of speech, it is actually a form of casual ableism.
Here is why:
1) It trivializes a disability. Bipolar disorder isn't just "changing your mind" or "being moody." While everyone experiences ups and downs, Bipolar disorder involves physiological shifts in energy, sleep, and judgment that are often beyond a person’s control. It is a complex mental health condition involving intense manic and depressive episodes that can impact every aspect of a person’s life.
A manic episode is not just "being happy." It can involve a dangerous loss of touch with reality, racing thoughts, and physical exhaustion. A depressive episode is not just "being sad." It is a debilitating clinical state that can make basic survival feel impossible. When we use the word casually, we erase the immense effort it takes for folks to manage these extremes.
2) It reinforces stigma. Using the diagnosis to describe something "unpredictable" or "annoying" suggests that people with the condition are inherently difficult, "crazy," or erratic. The stereotype forces many people into silence.
The truth is, you likely know someone with bipolar disorder, like a colleague who never misses a deadline, a friend who is a pillar of support, or a family member who is incredibly high-functioning. Because of the way the word is thrown around as an insult, they often have to hide their diagnosis to avoid being judged by tropes you’re using. When you use the word casually, you are telling those people that you view their identity as a negative trait.
3) It erases the reality. When "bipolar" is used as a joke, it creates an environment where people living with the condition feel they can’t be honest about their struggles. If the word is always associated with being "dramatic" or "moody" in your social circle, a person experiencing a genuine crisis will likely stay silent to avoid being seen as a stereotype. It turns a medical necessity into a social risk. When we stop using the word as a punchline, we open the door for real, life-saving conversations. Language is the environment we live in. When we use clinical terms as insults, we make the environment toxic for the people who actually need those terms to describe their lives.
If you learned something new from this post or would like to help spread awareness, please share it. We should work together to make our language more inclusive. Have you ever experienced this kind of ableist language in your daily life? Whether you’ve been the one hearing it or the one who realized they needed to change their vocabulary, I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Image: From Gerd-Altmann/Pixabay
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