What is Hypomania?
Hypomania is a mood disorder that impacts your mood, thoughts, and behavior. Some symptoms of hypomania include a euphoric mood, increased hyperactivity, sleep deprivation, thoughts of grandiosity, racing thoughts, hypersexuality, and other symptoms.1
What is Mania?
- Increased talkativeness
- Rapid speech
- Reduced need for sleep
- Racing thoughts
- Distractibility
- An increase in goal-directed activity
- Psychomotor agitation
The Difference Between Manic and Hypomanic
The main difference between mania and hypomania is hypomania’s inability to interfere with your social or occupational functions. While mania lasts a week or longer, hypomania lasts only four days. The difference between manic and hypomanic can be categorized using three distinct observations. Some distinctions include how long the manic behavior lasts, the severity of the episode, and how it affects your cognitive functionality.2
- Duration : If you experience symptoms of a manic episode for a week, you suffer from mania. Acute mania symptoms may last even longer. Shorter periods of up to only four days or so signify hypomania.
- Intensity : Besides a manic episode length of more than a week, the severity of your symptoms, such as elevated mood, impulsivity, irritability, and grandiosity, depicts a presence of mania.
- Cognitive Functionality : Functional impairment hypomania does not affect your typical day-to-day performance, while mania may influence you to the extent that you may not function at your average capacity.
What Are the Signs, Symptoms, and Risk Factors of Mania and Hypomania?
Some signs of hypomania are similar to those you may observe if you have mania, just at a less intense level. Below are some of the symptoms that are particular to either hypomania or mania.
Symptoms of Mania
- An unusually elevated, expansive, or irritable mood that occurs regularly
- Inflated self-esteem or grandiosity
- Being more talkative than usual, or feeling the pressure to keep talking
- Heightened risk-taking impulses that result in harm
Symptoms of Hypomania
- A distinct period of persistently elevated, expansive, or irritable mood
- Decreased need for sleep
- Not being able to control thought process
- Distractibility
- Increased energy to perform and move better
Causes and Risk Factors for Mania and Hypomania
Mania and hypomania are caused by a combination of genetics, neurobiology, and life experiences. You are at a higher risk of developing hypomania or a manic disorder if an immediate family member suffers from the same.
Causes and Risk Factors for Mania
Mania has many neurologic, toxic, and metabolic causes. A medical care provider needs to establish the exact mental disorder from symptoms caused by other mental health conditions. Some of the factors that may cause a manic episode include:
- Environmental factors, such as loud noise or bright light
- Personal problems such as divorce or loss of employment
- Sleep deprivation
- Substance or alcohol abuse disorders
Causes and Risk Factors for Hypomania
- Family history
- Chemical imbalance in your brain
- A side effect of a medication, such as antidepressants
- Major life changes or trauma, including the death of a family member or a traumatic accident
- Stress
- Sleep deprivation
- A sign or symptom of an underlying mental health problem, such as bipolar II disorder.
- Certain neurological conditions, such as dementia or stroke
How Are Mania and Hypomania Diagnosed and Treated?
Diagnosing Mania
Diagnosing Hypomania
Treating Hypomania and Mania
- Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) : This is a form of talk therapy that helps to identify and tackle behavior or situations that can cause either a manic or hypomanic episode, especially hypomania without depression. You can also learn and understand the early symptoms of mood episodes.
- Medications : Currently, some of the drugs supported by the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) and approved by the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) include mood stabilizers, anticonvulsants (such as carbamazepine), and antipsychotics (such as olanzapine, quetiapine, ziprasidone, aripiprazole, and asenapine).5
Can Mania or Hypomania Be Prevented?
No research has shown that you may be able to prevent hypomania or mania. But, you can make informed decisions towards managing their effects on you. You can improve the quality of your life by working directly with your therapists to create a treatment plan that can help to mitigate symptoms and identify causes.
A few other ways to cope with symptoms of mania or hypomania are to:
- Actively work to understand your condition
- Keep a mood diary
- Stay in and adhere to treatment
- Be aware of potential suicidal thoughts and work to find positive solutions
- Request help when you need it
Get Mania or Hypomania Treatment at Pacific Beach Health
Pacific Beach Health provides you with evidence-based treatment options for treating mania, hypomania, and any other underlying conditions you or a loved one may have. You can improve the quality of your life by seeking early treatment interventions. Contact one of our professional team members and find out how we may help you in your journey towards your recovery.