The nature of this illness truly reveals itself when you can contrast the quotes from the article with his behaviour in a show like QI. Without knowing more about him you would presume him to be a very happy man.

My roommate suffers from bipolar disorder (and a lot of other stuff to boot), and honestly, it is as much a disease with as much rationale behind it as any physiological one. His comment about "arguing" with suicidals hit the right note.