I was inspired to write this article after watching The Silver Linings Playbook for the second time. If you liked the movie, you’ll love the book, by Matthew Quick. I can totally see why Jennifer Lawrence won an Oscar for her brilliant performance. Bradley Cooper has really grown as an actor since his days in Alias!
I’d like to thank Tamara Redfern, life coach extraordinaire, for helping me bring my article to life.
I spotted an error in the second paragraph in my article: I’ve interviewed a writer with Bipolar Type 1, Sara (pen name) and her husband, Ali (pen name), who does not have bipolar. I’ve also interviewed Tamara Redfern, Sara’s life coach, who also has bipolar.
Sorry about that, folks. Nobody is classified as an illness!
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Published by Raidah Shah Idil
Raidah Shah Idil is a student counsellor, poet, writer, and creative instructor with a passion for YA (young adult), fantasy, sci-fi and detective fiction. She was born in Singapore and moved to Australia at the age of 12. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (English) and Bachelor of Science (Psychology) from the University of New South Wales in 2005.
After working as a marketing copywriter and studying the Islamic Sciences in Amman, Jordan for nearly two years, she returned to Sydney, got married, then moved to Malaysia. While working as a part-time tutor at Axiom Learning, she works as an online counsellor for Seekershub Global. She has completed her Diploma of Counselling through the Australian Institute of Professional Counsellors. Her full-time job is raising her baby daughter. Everything else is squeezed in between. Literally. Her writing has been published in The Feminist Wire, SISTERS magazine, Daily Life, Lip Mag and Venture Beat. Raidah’s poetry was recently published in the ‘Armed With Only Our Souls’ online DDFS chapbook by New York poet Caits Meissner. Her debut double-featured novel, “Finding Jamilah and the Story of Yusuf” was published by MyLegacy publications in early 2014.
In her spare time (ha), she reads, listens to audiobooks, goes on walks, and is always on the lookout for tasty noodle soup. She currently lives in a green, leafy suburb in Kuala Lumpur with her husband, three small children and mother-in-law.
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Raidah Shah Idil 
I am diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder and I don’t mind when someone says that I am bipolar.
The word bipolar has become both a noun and an adjective. To me, it is equally same whether I am referred to as being bipolar or having Bipolar. I feel that saying “googling” is not less correct than saying “using Google” or saying “someone is diabetic” is not less correct than saying “someone has Diabetes”. Usage of a word itself is not the issue for me but I do take connotations very seriously.
Even if someone says that I have Bipolar Disorder I can feel offended IF the tone is not right and I am just fine if someone says that I am bipolar as long as I don’t sense any negativity in their expression. It is not about the words we say but how we say them that matters.
Also, this is purely my view and I do not expect everyone to adhere to this view.