Hypomania

From ArticleWorld

Hypomania is a milder form of mania where the symptoms are not as severe and the individual more able to exercise control over them. However, while the day to day manifestation of the condition is not as serious, the long-term effects of the disorder can lead to suicide or social isolation.

The symptoms are those of more manic states such as irritability, belligerence and excessive energy which lead to hyperactivity, hyper-sexuality and hyper-religiousity. There is an exaggerated sense of self-esteem and an increase in the taking of risks. At times, there may be advantages to being a little more inclined to taking risks as famous sufferers of hypomania such as Christopher Columbus and Andrew Carnegie illustrate.

Bipolar II

Hypomania is the manic component of the mood disorder Bipolar II, with depression as the opposing mood swing. Bipolar II is lesser in severity than its counterpart Bipolar I which includes full-blown mania. The former disorder is more common than the latter and more likely to affect women than men, in contrast to Bipolar I which is gender neutral.

Cyclothymia is a low level form of the disorder with mild depression alternating with shorter periods of hypomania

Treatment

Treatment of hypomania is theoretical as no studies have been undertaken on the disorder as a separate entity from mania. Clinical studies have mostly concentrated on mania as it occurs in the initial phase when it is at its most acute and so high levels of medication are justified. Hypomania, however, may not need any medication or only low levels if it is a baseline condition or it may be the beginning of a descent into severe mania in which case medication is required.