Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been tagged as “hypomania”
Seasonal Mood Changes Spring is coming, a season that some call “mania season”. Even those without mood disorders often feel a rush of energy and hopefulness as the days finally start to get longer, and the temperatures go up. Many of our bipolar patients find that their mood swings follow a predictable pattern: for the majority, “up” in the spring …
Hypomania also needs management Of all the different mood states that people working through bipolar I or II have to deal with, hypomania may be the most difficult to understand. Often misdiagnosed, or left untreated for a variety of reasons, hypomania can also have its own stigma attached, as a post in BPHope reminds us. Friends, family members and other …
Ginger showed up in my office today feeling “incredibly irritated” by “people who don’t do their jobs.” She is a small business owner who relies on the work of many contractors for her business and she has been running into the usual excuses for work done late, or not at all, and finding the excuses to be almost intolerable. She …
What does hypomania feel like? A Moodsurfing reader recommends this You Tube presentation because, he said: “I found this video refreshing due to her very detailed description of what it feels like going through the various episodes.” Imogene Walters, working in London, has made several videos about bipolar, including one about suicidal feelings, and she speaks directly and meaningfully to …
Those of us in the United States tried to remember what happens to the clock with daylight savings time using the phrase “spring forward and fall back.” In California daylight savings time has been accompanied by a week of the sunniest weather in a couple of months. For whatever reason, in our practice at Gateway Psychiatric there has been a sudden uptick …
How big a problem is undiagnosed hypomania? By some estimates as many as 50% of people being treated for depression may have hypomania (similar to mania, but milder) episodes as well. A recent article in Psychiatric Times encourages doctors to maintain an increased level of suspicion about the possibility of hypomania in patients who are receiving treatment for a range …
Spring Mania – Fact or Fiction? People struggling with mood disorders frequently find their moods tied to the rhythm of the seasons. Spring heralds an upswing in energy and cheerfulness, while autumn and winter mean “down” times for many. As the northern hemisphere enters the Spring season, people with bipolar symptoms are cautioned to watch out for signs of mania …
We met a few days ago with one of our favorite people. She’s a writer and an artist and she has been gradually reducing some of her medications to see whether the combination of more diligent self-care and a lower dose of medications can lead to better quality of life and a return of some of her creative capacities. This …
The question of when is a good mood too good and what to do about it lies at the heart of my recurring experience that, as a psychiatrist specializing in working with people with bipolar and depression, I find myself in the uncomfortable position of being a spoilsport from time to time. Actually, sometimes it is much worse than that. …
Elon Musk is bipolar, according to a series of articles based on an exchange on Twitter. Responding to another tweet he said, “The reality is great highs, terrible lows, and unrelenting stress…” “I’m sure there are better answers than what I do, which is just take the pain and make sure you really care about what you’re doing.” He was …
Travel and mood are very much related. Often a trip is associated with a significant change in mood. This can be…
Mindfulness is one of those practices that seems to, quite perversely, be most important to practice at times when it is most difficult to do. A successful interior designer with bipolar disorder who has been on a mild run of hypomania for a month or so told me, in a roundabout way, about how people around her were getting a bit exhausted …
Impulsivity is something everyone has experienced. We have all had moments when we have said something impulsively that we regret or have gotten carried away with an idea. Sometimes the consequences of an impulsive action are minimal. But that is not always the case. Impulsive decision-making is more common in people with bipolar. And this increase is not just something seen …
I have been doing a lot of thinking about how to pace yourself so that you can capture some of the energy and creativity associated with being mildly energized while not getting so involved that you burn out or edge into full-fledged mania. There’s nothing quite so exciting as entering a time of increased energy and ideas after a long …
A cheerful young woman comes in for a consultation and soon we come to a topic that can be remarkably frustrating for all: trying to explain the dangers of mania. She is only mildly manic. It’s true she often gets into arguments that don’t really make much sense and she has been smoking more marijuana and hooking up with an …
A young woman who has been making good progress tackling the problem of severe depressive episodes suddenly is having trouble managing the opposite end of the mood spectrum. She gets energized and is consumed with getting stuff done. She is unable to stop until she is exhausted and she crashes. I call this state of mind “hamster mind” because it is like the …
I have been fortunate this past month to have been working at the Bipolar Clinic at UCSF. Chief of the clinic, Dr. Descartes Li, shared with us this article that is one of the best discussions about why it is that people who are clearly manic are unable to recognize the change in mood. It also has some useful suggestions …
John has not been doing well. He used to be optimistic about all challenges and, although he had ups and downs, he managed to overcome these shifts in mood and maintain a focus on achieving his life goals. For the last year and a half he seems to be having difficulty focusing on those goals. And he seems discouraged, particularly …
During the 1990s clinical psychologist John Gartner was planning on writing a book about religious movements started by manic profits, but he began to be distracted by the energy and excitement swirling around him as people became immersed in the Internet “bubble”. He decided instead to write a book about the relationship between hypomania and success in the business world (The Hypomanic …
Travel and mood are very much related. Often a trip is associated with a significant change in mood. This can be due to many factors. Getting out of a rut, experiencing new locations and meeting new people can bring you out of the depression. However there is also the possibility that travel may disrupt circadian rhythms in a way that leads …
