A manic episode is defined as a distinct period during which you experience a persistently elivated or irritable mood for at least a week, present most of the day, nearly every day. In addition, individuals will experience at least 3 or 4 other symptoms:
1.Changes in Sleep patterns: ie: the individual can’t sleep. They feel like they are the “energizer bunny” and can go for days without sleep.
2.They are experiencing excessive energy, and ways to blow off this energy (such as redecorating the entire house on a whim).
3. Excessive talkativeness and interrupting, or feeling a pressure to continue talking.
4. A flight of ideas. An example of this might be while taking a shower the individual decides that they want to leave town and move to Tennessee to become a country western singer. Then while they are working out the details while washing their hair, by the time the get to the conditioner phase they have changed their mind and have decided that they really want to move to LA to become an actress or play write.
5.Delusions of Grandeur: This is what I call the “master of the universe” phase. They feel as though they are the best at whatever they do, some feel they are God, or believe that others often tell them that they are God. They have a severely inflated sense of self esteem.
6.Irritability or Hostility. This swing can happen suddenly so please be careful if someone you love acts out in this way. Often the individual denies experiencing this.
7. Auditory or visual hallucinations. They can experience paranoia or delusional behavior. They may think that people on TV are speaking directly to them, or that they see shadows or individuals that are not there.
8. An excessive involvement in activities that have a high potential for panful consequences: gambling, spending, hyper sexuality or sexual indiscretions, foolish business involvements.
9. Extreme distractibility. An example of this would be the individual’s attention is easily drawn to unimportant stimuli.
10.Hospitalization is required if the manic episode is severe enough.
The basic difference between Mania and Hypomania is based on severity. Many people refer to hypomania as “Manic Light.” The symptoms are very similar but they aren’t as intense or last as long in duration. Instead of lasting a full week, like Mania, Hypomania only needs to last for approximately 4 consecutive days while experiencing 3 of the symptoms I listed above for Mania.
Another difference is that with hypomania, there is never a sense of auditory or visual hallucinations. Rarely is hospitalization necessary.
When someone with mania goes on a shopping spree they may buy 20 pairs of sheets, where as an individual in a hypomanic swing may buy 8 sets of sheets. Yes, they both bought more than they could afford, but its the amount of as I referred to early the “severity” of the symptoms.
To sum up the common symptoms of Mania and Hypomania, because there are quite a few:
1. Both experience rapid speaking.
2. Not needing much sleep.
3. Grandiose thinking or “Master of the Universe” beliefs that they can do something better than everyone else can.
4. Spending wrecklessly when they have no ability to make the payments.
5.Hyper sexuality and Behaving inappropriately.
The main differences are Severity (mania being much more severe than hypomania) and the lack of delusions or paranoia in Hypomania, that are often found in Manic Episodes, especially the more severe the episode. I hope that this helps to clarify the basic differences in Mania and Hypomania.
If you recognize any of these symptoms, it’s normal to be scared, anxious, or feel that your family or friends may not understand. It’s common when we see ourselves that we begin to minimize your symptoms “everyone is moody” ” Maybe I’m just happier than most people.”
Please read about bipolar disorder and know that there is help, but the first step is finding someone to help you.
A good place to start is www.psychologytoday.com . Put in your zipcode and on the left hand side tick the box BIPOLAR. All the therapists in your area will come up. You can also add your insurance provider to only see therapists that are in network for you.
Gentle hugs Dr Karen