I hate the word "crazy".
When we call someone "crazy", we are assigning the label to someone's entire identity, as if a mental disorder is the entirety of who they are. Their behavior may be crazy, but they themselves are a complex human being who happens to have a disorder.
I am one of those people. I have bipolar 2, and I have to do a careful balancing act to keep episodes of depression and anger/impractical elation at bay. I'm functional, although sometimes I get stressed enough that the symptoms don't break through.
When people think about the fact that I'm bipolar, I also want them to remember my sense of humor, my drive, my intelligence, my alluring beauty (just kidding), my love of cats, my relationship with words.
If someone uses the word "crazy" around me, I fear that they forget everything but this label. If you're trying to describe someone who is not functioning well with their disorder, use the word "dysfunctional".
Using the word "crazy" is a hard habit to break, but a bad habit to keep.
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