4 ms·
On the other hand, a non-negligible reason for this confusion is that the standard nomenclature for many psychiatric conditions is simply quite ambiguous. Bipol
by vezzy-fnord 11y ago
On the other hand, a non-negligible reason for this confusion is that the standard nomenclature for many psychiatric conditions is simply quite ambiguous. Bipolar? Borderline? The former implies there's two fixed states that are evenly transitioned to and from, where the latter implies... nothing immediately discernible.
- DanBC 11y agoWe constantly learn more about mental illness and refine definitions and criteria and diagnoses. Borderline Personality Disorder is probably going to change to Emotionally Unstable PD. It's a controversial diagnosis which results in a bunch of stigma. (Not just from the wider population but also MH professionals too.) the document "meeting the challenge, making a difference" from UK NHS describes modern best practice for personality disorder, and the problems the illness, and the diagnosis, cause. The old name borderline comes because it was thought to be sub-threshold psychosis style illness. We know now that's wrong. The bi in bi polar just means "more than one" - so someone does not have just mania or just depression. I agree that the jargon being similar to everyday words is problematic. There are very many examples. (Recovery, in England "low secure unit" (which actually have higher levels of security than most MH units) etc etc).
- reagency 11y agoReally? I thought bi=2 and multi=>1 Polar=extreme, So bipolar means "two extremes", and the question is how does one transition between them-- continuously varying across the gamut, or discretely jumping.