Mania and hypomania, like depression, belong to the group of affective disorders, that is, mood disorders. Like depression, they manifest themselves during the off-season and can be both short-term and protracted.
Hypomania is manifested by high spirits, sociability, increased performance, a surge of strength with unusual self-confidence, excessive generosity and love of love. These changes are pleasant for the patient and his loved ones. Still would! After all, a person manages much more than usual, he is full of ideas and new beginnings! At the same time, neither he himself nor his relatives, as a rule, see any reason to see a doctor. The appearance of mild irritability, excessive demands and a reduction in night sleep in combination with unusual tirelessness can alert loved ones.
Hypomania: symptoms and signs
Elevated mood or irritability that occurs for at least 4 days in a row. For other people, such a condition would be a deviation from the norm.
At least three of the following must be present:
- physical restlessness (difficulty sitting still), general activity;
- clearly noticeable talkativeness - people talk and talk, sometimes it doesn’t matter to them what to say;
- difficulty concentrating and distractibility;
- sleep disturbance - mainly difficulty falling asleep;
- increased sexual activity;
- the desire to do reckless things - partying, buying expensive things, and the like;
- increased sociability, familiarity is possible.
The symptoms of hypomania can be a little alarming, but most patients like this condition. They are called sick not because this happens to them and this is how they behave. There would be nothing terrible in this, but as a phase, bipolar disorder is a temporary condition, which will most likely be replaced by a depressive phase, and then there will be no trace left of the activity caused by the general emotional disorder.
In this state, people can commit actions that are more likely to be undesirable. If a leader has hypomania, then he himself is a “volcano of energy.” He is constantly doing something, writing, sending emails, gathering employees for meetings. Upon calm examination, it turns out that 80% of his activity did not bring any positive effect. Due to his irritation, he is constantly dissatisfied. It’s not that he’s looking for something to complain about, but he can get annoyed over any trifles in fact. This one did something wrong, this one took too long, in his opinion. Of course, such behavior does not increase respect in the eyes of subordinates.
Attacks of hypomania and mania in bipolar disorder
Bipolar mania, hypomania and depression are symptoms of bipolar disorder. Sudden mood swings in bipolar disorder do not occur in a specific sequence. The patient may be in the same mood for a week, month or year, until suddenly his mood changes to the extreme opposite. The severity of the attack is also strictly individual.
Hypomania is a milder form of mania. Hypomania itself is a mood that is not a pathology. It evokes pleasant feelings, a state of well-being and high performance. However, if a person has bipolar disorder, then hypomania can develop into mania, and as a result develop into depression.
An attack of hypomania and mania can be described as follows:
Hypomania:
At first, when you feel elated, it's wonderful...thoughts just fly through your head...it's like chasing a bright star until a brighter star appears...Shyness just disappears and you always know what and when to say...people and things that seemed uninteresting, now seem incredibly interesting.
Sensuality becomes all-encompassing, and it is simply impossible to fight the desire to seduce and be seduced. The brain is filled with a feeling of inexplicable lightness, strength, good mood, omnipotence and euphoria... you become capable of anything... but in one moment everything changes. Mania: Thoughts fly through your head very quickly and there are too many of them... all-encompassing confusion replaces a state of clarity... you cease to understand what is happening around you... memories disappear. The sense of humor disappears. Friends become scared... things are going wrong... you are irritable, angry, scared, out of control and confused about what is happening.
If you experience 3 or more of the following manic symptoms every day for a week, you are likely experiencing a manic episode due to bipolar disorder:
- Excessive feelings of happiness, optimism and excitement
- Sudden change in mood from good to irritable, angry and rude
- Restlessness, excessive energy and decreased need for sleep
- Fast manner and speaking and talkativeness
- Pathologically increased distractibility
- Confused thoughts
- Excessive sexual desire
- Tendency to create grandiose, impossible plans
- Inability to assess a situation sensibly, for example, an unreasonable decision to quit a job
- Arrogant self-esteem, a sense of superiority - groundless belief in one’s capabilities, mental abilities and strength; Such thoughts are often not true
- Reckless behavior (such as frequent partying, sexual promiscuity, alcohol abuse, or unhealthy business decisions)
Some people with bipolar disorder begin to see or hear things that are not there. They can firmly believe in erroneous judgments, and no one can prove them wrong. In some cases, they may believe that they are endowed with superhuman abilities - even consider themselves divine beings.
Hypomania, what is it, what types are there?
It is customary to distinguish between pure and latent hypomania.
Pure hypomania, what is it?
The pure one makes itself known in approximately this way. A person becomes obsessed with some project, or even several at once. At the same time, it seems to him that those around him are actively putting a spoke in his wheels - he gets irritated, sometimes even loses control over himself. In practice, it is simply difficult for him to focus attention, so everything around him is seen as an obstacle to achieving his goal.
With pure hypomania, a person is obsessed with various projects, although it seems to him that everyone is interfering with him
At the same time, he also feels the desire to communicate. He himself immediately tries to establish contact with those whom he has just offended. He can show his gaiety, joke a little flatly and invite everyone to have a party. He may suffer from insomnia, mainly due to the desire to solve all the issues at once and get things done as quickly as possible.
Outwardly, a person may come across as aggressive. Self-esteem is most often overestimated, and this does not give him the opportunity to calmly and thoroughly respond to criticism. Self-criticism is only partially preserved. Mistakes made may be recognized as errors, but not the state itself.
Hidden hypomania, what is it?
In essence, everything is the same, but the person is not perceived by others as aggressive. He boldly takes on the most difficult tasks. The work can be quite effective. There is a need to communicate and a desire to make grandiose plans. The person is not so conflicted.
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The mood is excellent, the appetite is increased. There is a tendency not to notice any problems around you. Sometimes people describe the condition something like this: internal impatience and trembling. In some cases, even hand tremors are noticeable.
What is hypomania in terms of potential danger?
In its autonomous form, as a form of manifestation of a mood disorder, and as an episode of the structure of bipolar affective disorder, hypomania causes more problems than benefits. Let's start with the fact that a person commits his actions and builds relationships with people based on the surge of mood that has gripped him. At the same time, hypomania, as a form of a manic episode, very easily turns into bipolar disorder.
This state does not last forever. A manic episode is sometimes replaced by either a feeling of apathy and devastation, or obvious depression begins. In a state of hypomania, it is very easy to take on something that was not necessary to do, or that was necessary, but in some other way. At the everyday level, this can be expressed in the appearance of banal debts.
Everything is very simple. Psychic “rose-colored glasses” were worn. The man decided that he couldn’t live like this any longer, but he could improve his life and his financial status. Both require money, but they don’t have it. Then he takes out loans. Let's assume he is an individual entrepreneur. A loan is taken out to implement some business projects. No business plan, calculation, or competitor analysis is carried out. Only a standard package of documents is collected and a loan is safely taken out. An entrepreneur plunges headlong into work. And already the first steps towards implementation show that something is going wrong. He tries to compensate for all this with new and new work, and hence sleepless nights and increased appetite. He thinks that bodily food is necessary to maintain strength and energy status.
A person suffering from hypomania makes Napoleonic plans, and then cannot implement them
At the same time, you take out a loan to carry out renovations in your apartment. The person is so confident in his abilities, he simply sparkles with energy, that he doesn’t even think about the fact that he himself signed a loan agreement with the words “to improve living conditions.” He didn’t bother to go to a lawyer and spend some ridiculous amount on consultation fees. Understanding will come later. Of course, you can’t get everywhere on your own, so a team of repairmen has been hired.
What is the result, what will happen in the end? The business begins to clearly “slip”, it becomes clear that the return on the project, which was seen as so “successful”, is much lower than expected. At a certain point, difficulties arise in paying both loans, and the person becomes more and more agitated and irritated. Partners fail, repairmen fail, everything does not go according to plan. To compensate for emotional blows, he easily indulges in small sprees, and also manages to buy expensive things for himself and his wife.
A period of complete sobering also comes. Business is in such a state that it’s time to declare oneself bankrupt, but even this in Russia requires money. And then fate strikes again. Not only does he have nothing to repay the loan he took out for renovations in the apartment, but he has already lost it. The fact is that a loan to improve housing conditions equates it to a mortgage. This means that through the court, his home can be taken away, even if it is his only one.
Of course, the created conditions will turn any hypomania into deep depression, even if initially there was no hint of bipolar affective disorder. Of course, real depression must be endogenous. Everything is so... But the mood disorder of the person in this example began exactly like this - hypomania arose from within, and became the reason for the appearance of his rash plans. Stress will only reformat it, and the phase of euphoria will be replaced by a phase of depression.
What does hypomania hide?
Hypomania can become more severe over time and turn into a more severe painful state - mania - or give way to depression. A combination of periods of high and low mood is most often found within bipolar affective disorder. Mania (hypomania) and depression can be separated by periods of even mood or replace each other continuously. Their duration averages from 2 weeks to 2 months. If the disorder is not treated, it becomes chronic and worsens, depriving a person of ability to work and, thereby, earnings, and sometimes family and friendships. In the practice of work of TREATMENT AND REHABILITATION SCIENTIFIC, there have been cases when a person moved from one state to another over the course of 6–7 years without returning to health. This course of the disease is one of the most difficult to treat.
Hypomania - what is it in terms of treatment?
Drug treatment mainly comes down to the use of sedatives. This is a whole group of drugs that can cause calm or reduce emotional stress, but do not increase drowsiness. However, the effect they have is quite mild, so you should not rely only on medications, and you should not resort to tranquilizers because they have side effects and are simply not necessary.
Sedatives include preparations of valerian, motherwort, and mint. There are also combined options, such as ankylosing spondylitis, valocordin, corvalol, validol.
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Often in this case, drugs containing lithium carbonate or small doses of carbamazepine are prescribed, but we would not rush with this due to their unclear and sometimes unpredictable effects on certain patients.
The problem is that people themselves do not realize that they have an emotional disorder. This can only happen if they experience internal trembling and some excitement.
Bekhterev's mixture is used in the treatment of hypomania
We consider psychotherapy to be the best type of work to solve a problem. All methods that promote the acquisition of relaxation and awareness skills bring results. No matter how offensive it may sound for the patients themselves, this condition must be approached in the same way as depression, even if there is an episode of separate hypomania without signs of bipolar disorder. Hypomania can figuratively be called depression with reverse potential. There are two main factors - a disorder in the emotional sphere and a feeling of anxiety and agitation. For some people, all this looks like a decrease in mood, and for others, it looks like an increase in mood. However, the essence does not change. In addition, most cases of hypomania are just a phase, and then it still sublimates into depression.
Therefore, treatment should be aimed primarily at adjusting mood, creating a favorable general emotional state based on the balance of activity and passivity.
Medicines are selected based on symptoms, but psychotherapy should be deeper and primarily consider the causes of their appearance. They are at the level of unmet needs. In this respect, depression is no different from mania and hypomania. The person himself will learn to satisfy these needs or he will be taught, but if this happens, then what will remain from the huge elephant of mood disorders is a small mouse of some discomfort.
Let's remember the person with his two loans, the individual entrepreneur from our example. He experienced a surge of strength, activity was not idle, and he immediately began to solve his problems in this state. The level of creating your own home and gaining security was clearly not worked out. This mental dissatisfaction led him to try to solve everything exclusively in material terms - suspended ceilings, sliding doors and heated floors. The phenomena are good, but by themselves they have not brought happiness to anyone. The same can be said about business. The incubators of “personal effectiveness” schools have eaten away the baldness of the majority quite well. People firmly believed that the right business is the constant development of business, the desire not for profit, but for super-profits. Even if this is an individual entrepreneur who is engaged in repairs in apartments and plastering walls in the houses of collective farmers. People are accustomed not to want more, but to consider themselves obligated to want more. In fact, there could be a conflict within the relationship between work and desire. A person does not do what he likes, but what everyone else does. Of course, it’s a good idea to look for something else, but soberly understanding not only your strengths, but also your true desires.
Psychotherapy for hypomania is aimed at improving mood and improving emotional state
All this anxiety, activity, and nervousness can be very easily treated with physical exercise. If you want to be active, run, jump, do push-ups and squats. Don't let an imbalance arise between mind and body. Ultimately, we want happiness, and it cannot be obtained through manic persistence.
