Introduction to Mania and Hypomania | Addiction and Mental Health Recovery Counseling Activities

Hey there everybody, and welcome back to the Addiction and co occurring disorders treatment manual. Today we're discussing unit one, part four, an introduction to mania. I'm your host, Dr. Donnellice Snipes. In this part we're going to define mania or hypomania and explore how it might interact with your physical health, other mental health issues and addiction issues. People who have mania or hypomania are experiencing what we call an elevated, expansive or irritable mood. Now, hypomania is a less intense form of mania, but both can be very damaging to people's recovery. Other symptoms people experience when they're in a manic or hypomanic episode include an inflated self esteem or grandiosity. They feel really good about themselves, which is different from how they normally feel. If they always have an inflated self esteem or sense of grandiosity, that might be another issue. But if they normally have an average self esteem, but all of a sudden they are acting like they're the greatest thing since sliced bread, or as my mother used to say, they're 10 foot tall and bulletproof, then that might be an indication that they are moving into a manic or hypomanic episode. There's a decreased need for sleep. People with mania or hypomania don't want to sleep. They don't feel the need to sleep. It's not that they can't. It's not that they desperately want to, but they just can't fall asleep. No, they don't feel the need to sleep. They are often more talkative than usual and experience racing thoughts. So they may talk about one thing and then all of a sudden switch to another thing, then switch to another thing and take a detour back to the first thing they were talking about without hardly taking a breath. They are also easily distractible. When they're in the midst of a manic episode, they can't concentrate the way they usually do when they're asymptomatic. There's often an increase in goal directed activity or restlessness. Well, think about it. When you're manic or hypomanic, you've got a lot of energy and so it's really hard to just sit still. And that's important to recognize. But some people will take that energy and focus it intensely on something, whether it's a project that they're working on or a relationship or something else. During a manic or hypomanic episode, people also often engage in impulsive activities that have an excessive risk of painful consequences like addictive Behaviors, for example. And finally, during a manic or hypomanic episode, people often experience an increased sex drive. For a lot of people that I've worked with, their what we call hypersexuality or a sudden increase in their sex drive is often a leading warning sign that they're getting ready to go into a manic or hypomanic episode. If you have bipolar disorder, it's important to know what your leading warning signs are. How do you know what are the early warning signs? That you've got a episode coming on that will be important so you can intervene early. It's also important if you don't have bipolar or you're not sure if you have bipolar to recognize that bipolar disorder doesn't go from depressed to manic to depressed to manic back and forth. People with bipolar disorder may have an episode of depression and then a long period or a short period of remission or being asymptomatic. Then they may have another depressive episode and then have a period of being asymptomatic. Then they may have a manic episode followed by three more depressive episodes. So there is no rhyme or reason, unfortunately, that we understand right now that would help people predict what the next episode is going to be like or when it's going to occur. But the important thing to remember is that between episodes, people often have periods where they're asymptomatic or they're in remission, however you want to call it. All right, so if you have mania or Hypomania, spend about 50 minutes going over this activity. Think about how each symptom could trigger addictive behavior. How could each symptom make you more likely to engage in pleasure seeking behaviors or use substances to try to counteract the symptom itself? How could each symptom trigger depression, anxiety, anger, guilt, grief, or jealousy? And what are three healthier ways or healthy ways for dealing with mania or hypomania when it happens? So start thinking about your intervention or your relapse prevention plan right now. Now, in the last part, we talked about depression and we talked about how depressive symptoms may trigger addictive behaviors. So in this one, let's talk about how manic symptoms may trigger depression, anxiety, or anger. Wow. How can can mania trigger depression? Well, in the midst of the manic episode, it probably won't. However, the increase in goal directed activity can, or the engagement in impulsive activities with a high potential for painful consequences when the person is no longer in that manic or hypomanic episode. They may look back over what they did when they were in their episode and feel very guilty or regretful or angry at themselves or depressed. They may look back at it and feel hopeless and helpless. They're like, I was doing so well, and, and then I undid all of my progress in the course of a few hours. Some people with addictions will, who also have bipolar disorder, when they experience a manic episode, will relapse. And that can be devastating for somebody who is in recovery when they come out of their manic episode to realize that they used, that they lost their, their sober time while they were in the manic episode. And that can trigger feelings of guilt and grief and depression. So, again, go through each symptom, especially if you've experienced mania or hypomania, go through each symptom and think about how it could trigger other problems. And three healthy ways of dealing with each symptom.