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| - Hypomania is a mood state used in psychiatry to describe symptoms that approach mania. It is characterized by persistent disinhibition and either euphoria or excessive irritability resulting in excessive energy, talking and confidence. This can often manifest in either bursts of creative ideas or hypersexuality. Although it can indicate several behavioral disorders, it is most likely to be associated with bipolar spectrum disorders. Although this mood state can heighten both productivity and creativity, it can also lead to excessive risk-taking behavior. However, it is not held to be a sign of illness unless the episode lasts for a period of more than four days.
- Hypomania is a state involving a combination of: elevated mood, irritability, racing thoughts, people-seeking, hypersexuality, grandiose thinking, religiosity, and pressured speech. Bipolar II Disorder is characterized by states of hypomania and depression. Hypomania is a less severe form of mania without progression to psychosis. Many of the symptoms of mania are present, but to a lesser degree than in overt mania. People with hypomania are generally perceived as being energetic, euphoric, overflowing with new ideas, and sometimes highly confident and charismatic, and unlike full-blown mania, they are sufficiently capable of coherent thought and action to participate in everyday life. Hypomania is classified as a bipolar II disorder.
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| - Hypomania is a mood state used in psychiatry to describe symptoms that approach mania. It is characterized by persistent disinhibition and either euphoria or excessive irritability resulting in excessive energy, talking and confidence. This can often manifest in either bursts of creative ideas or hypersexuality. Although it can indicate several behavioral disorders, it is most likely to be associated with bipolar spectrum disorders. Although this mood state can heighten both productivity and creativity, it can also lead to excessive risk-taking behavior. However, it is not held to be a sign of illness unless the episode lasts for a period of more than four days. Ironically, hypomania can occur directly after an episode of depression. Because initial episodes of hypomania often happen during adolescence, it is often confused for the normal behavioral changes typical of that age. It can also be a side effect of mood altering pharmaceuticals, particularly those to treat other mood disorders. There is some dispute as to whether hypomania is a sign of a mental disorder, or is merely on the outlying side of normal hyperactive behavior. The DSM currently comes down on the side of the first explanation.
- Hypomania is a state involving a combination of: elevated mood, irritability, racing thoughts, people-seeking, hypersexuality, grandiose thinking, religiosity, and pressured speech. Bipolar II Disorder is characterized by states of hypomania and depression. Hypomania is a less severe form of mania without progression to psychosis. Many of the symptoms of mania are present, but to a lesser degree than in overt mania. People with hypomania are generally perceived as being energetic, euphoric, overflowing with new ideas, and sometimes highly confident and charismatic, and unlike full-blown mania, they are sufficiently capable of coherent thought and action to participate in everyday life. Hypomania is classified as a bipolar II disorder. Although the DSM-IV-TR classifies hypomania as a mood episode, it is only considered part of bipolar disorder in the context of cycles into depression or more severe mania. A small percentage of the population may experience hypomania without ever having experienced depression or mania. Although some of these people may require treatment or therapy, according to DSM criteria they do not have bipolar disorder. John D. Gartner's The Hypomanic Edge (Simon and Schuster) "draws a line between hypomania - recognized by such markers as inflated self-esteem, a decreased need for sleep, and episodes of risky behavior - and its far more dangerous cousin, mania." He then goes on to illustrate his thesis that there may be an "up" side to the less dangerous hypomania. His thesis includes a strong link between, "(a little) Craziness and (a Lot of) Success"; the book features short biographies of such overachievers as Christopher Columbus, Alexander Hamilton, and Andrew Carnegie. It is questionable whether hypomania occurs without being part of a cycle of mania or depression. Patients rarely, if ever, seek out a psychiatrist complaining of hypomania. Gartner contends that many famous people including Christopher Columbus, Alexander Hamilton, Andrew Carnegie, Louis B Mayer, and Craig Venter (who mapped the human genome) owed their ideas and drive (and eccentricities) to their hypomanic temperaments (it is called the hyperthymic temperament in clinical research). The creativity and risky behavior associated with hypomania (and bipolar disorder in general) may suggest why it has survived evolutionary pressures. Although hypomania sounds in many ways like a desirable condition, it can have significant downsides. Many of the negative symptoms of mania can be present; the primary differentiating factor is the absence of psychosis. Many hypomanic patients have symptoms of disrupted sleep patterns, irritability, racing thoughts, obsessional traits, and poor judgment. Hypomania, like mania, can be associated with recklessness, excessive spending, risky hypersexual activity, general lack of judgment and out-of-character behaviour that the patient may later regret and may cause significant social, interpersonal, career and financial problems. Hypomania can also signal the beginning of a more severe manic episode, and in people who know that they suffer from bipolar disorder, can be viewed as a warning sign that a manic episode is on the way, allowing them to seek medical treatment while they are still sufficiently self-aware before full-blown mania occurs.
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