“Always appending disorder to the word bipolar is akin to always appending accident to the end of automobile. In other words, saying ‘bipolar disorder’ is the same as saying ‘car accident’ every time you mention a car,” writes Tom Wootton on his Psychology Today blog Bipolar Advantage.
Wootton suggests that the mental health system’s basic premise that bipolar traits are in and of themselves problematic may be faulty, and just like people can be trained to drive cars more safely and effectively, people can also learn to be bipolar more safely and effectively. “What if we CAN learn to function while manic or depressed? If the search for solutions were based on that premise we would create completely different tools and outcomes,” writes Wootton.
What if the Central Premise of Bipolar Disorder Is Wrong? (Bipolar Advantage, Psychology Today, September 18, 2014)