Mania: Causes, Symptoms, Diagnosis &Treatment
What Is a Bipolar Disorder?
A mental health condition known as bipolar disorder can result in episodes of extreme highs and lows. Mania and depression are the names for these episodes. Your healthcare provider will be able to determine the type of bipolar disorder you have based on how severe and frequent these episodes are.
If you have at least one manic episode, you have bipolar I disorder. Before or after a manic episode, you might experience a major depressive episode. Additionally, you might experience hypomania, a form of mania that is less severe. When a major depressive episode lasts at least two weeks and a hypomanic episode lasts at least four days, you have bipolar 2 disorder.
What Is Mania?
If the state of mind or mood becomes cheerful or bad-tempered, this might be a symptom of mania. The term 'mania' is used to depict severe cases of psychotic symptoms. Hypomania portrays a less extreme type of problem. In clinical practice, this qualification frequently becomes obscured, with hypomania being viewed as patients developing, or recuperating from, mania.
Mania can be a perilous condition in light of multiple factors. Individuals may not rest or eat while in a hyper-manic episode. They might participate in hazardous ways of behaving and hurt themselves. Individuals with mania have a more serious gamble of encountering hallucinations and other perceptual unsettling influences.
What Causes Mania?
In mania, family history plays an important role. Individuals whose kin or parents have the condition are bound to encounter a manic episode. In any case, having a relative with mania doesn't mean an individual will encounter them.
Certain individuals are inclined to mania as a result of a basic ailment or mental disease, like the bipolar problem. A trigger or a mix of triggers can cause mania in these individuals.
The scans of the brain show that a few patients with mania have marginally unique brain structures or actions. Doctors don't utilize these brain scans to analyze mania or bipolar problems.
Natural environmental changes can set off mania. Distressing life-altering situations, like the passing of a friend or family member, can add to mania. Monetary pressure, relationships, and disease can likewise cause hyper manic episodes. Conditions like hypothyroidism can likewise add to manic episodes.
What Are The Symptoms Of Mania?
In mania, the mindset is portrayed as cheerful or irritable and the accompanying overactivity is normally useless. Disinhibition might bring about over-the-top spending binges, improper sexual activity, and other high-risk ways of behaving. Driving might be especially hazardous. Hyper individuals might portray their contemplations as hustling, with thoughts quickly changing starting with one subject and then onto the next. Speech might be extremely fast with regular punning and rhyming. Thoughts or ideas might become self-important with patients setting out on fabulous ventures which turn into dead-ends and unavoidably are left fragmented and disconnected. Clothing is generally ostentatious, and if make-up is worn it is normally inordinate and includes bright shades.
However, the most common symptoms of mania can include:
- Grandiosity
- Increased goal-directed actions
- Extreme anxiety
- Psychosis
- An expansion in crazy ways of behaving, for example, expanded drug use, unprotected sex, or exorbitant spending
- Delusions
- Hallucinations
- Extreme high energy
- A reduced need for sleep
- Euphoric feelings
- Feeling of invincible
- Racing thoughts
- Being very talkative
- Speaking very fast
- Unusual behavior compared to a person’s normal behaviors
- Being easily distracted or irritated
- Impulsiveness
What Happens After A Manic Episode?
You might, following a manic episode:
- Your actions might make you happy or make you feel bad.
- The numerous commitments you've made overwhelm you.
- You might not remember anything at all about your manic episode.
- I'm extremely exhausted and in need of sleep.
- You might experience depression if you have bipolar disorder because of your mania.
What Is The Duration Of A Manic Episode?
Prodromal symptoms, or the early signs of a manic episode, can last anywhere from weeks to months. The duration of bipolar-related mania episodes can range from three to six months if you are not already receiving treatment. A manic episode typically improves within three months with effective treatment.
How To Diagnose Mania?
Mania can’t be diagnosed through a laboratory test. Your doctor may order lab tests to rule out certain medical conditions that can affect your mood. After that, your doctor may examine your body, inquire about your personal medical and family history, and evaluate your symptoms.
To rule out any other conditions that could resemble mania, your doctor may order body scans and blood tests. Your healthcare provider may suggest that you see a mental health specialist after other diseases and conditions have been ruled out. The DSM-5 criteria of the American Psychiatric Association may be used by your mental health professional to diagnose mania. A manic episode is defined as
- You exhibit an abnormally high level of emotion that lasts for at least a week and is most of the time present nearly every day.
- You have three or more symptoms that have a significant impact on your normal behavior.
- If you have psychotic symptoms like hallucinations or delusions or if your mood disturbance is so severe that it is affecting your ability to interact with others, work, or school, you need to be admitted to the hospital to prevent harm to yourself or others.
- The effects of a substance, such as drugs or drug abuse, or another medical condition cannot account for the manic episode.
What Is The Difference Between Hypomania & Mania?
Hypomania is a less outrageous form of mania. The symptoms of hypomania are comparable but less extreme than mania. Individuals won't need hospitalization for hypomania.
Hypomania doesn't essentially influence an individual's capacity to work socially or in their occupation. Hypomania goes on for something like 4 days while mania goes for at least one week.
The most common symptoms of hypomania can include:
- Elation or expanded sensations of bliss
- Quick discourse or being more chatty
- Touchiness
- Disturbance
- Expanded sexual energy
- Trouble thinking or turning out to be quickly flustered
- Dashing contemplations
- Expanded action
- Expanded benevolence
- Not dozing without question
- Extreme burning through of cash
- Loss of social hindrances
- Expanded risk-taking
How To Treat Mania?
Mania is treated with medications, talk treatment, self-management, and loved ones' support.
Medications Used For Mania
If you are suffering from mania only, your healthcare professional might endorse an antipsychotic medicine, for example, aripiprazole (Abilify®), lurasidone (Latuda®), olanzapine (Zyprexa®), quetiapine (Seroquel®) or risperidone (Risperdal®).
If you have mania as a component of a state of mind problem, your doctor might add a temperament stabilizer. A few models incorporate lithium, valproate (Depakote®) and carbamazepine (Tegretol®). (If you're pregnant or want to become pregnant, let your supplier know. Valproate can build the opportunity for birth imperfections and learning handicaps and ought not to be recommended to people who can become pregnant.) In some cases, antidepressants are additionally prescribed.
Other Treatment Options Used For Mania
Other most common treatment approaches used for mania patients are listed below,
- Psychotherapy: It includes different strategies. During psychotherapy, you'll chat with emotional well-being proficient who'll help you recognize and manage factors that might be setting off your mania or potential despondency (assuming you're determined to have a bipolar I problem).
- Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy: CBT can be valuable in assisting you with changing erroneous discernments that you have about yourself and your general surroundings.
- Family Therapy: This is significant since it's extremely useful for your relatives to comprehend your way of behaving and how they might help.
- Community Support: If mania is influencing individuals' capacity to complete regular undertakings, individuals might profit from social help, like a social specialist or worker.
- Electroconvulsive Therapy: In uncommon cases, electroconvulsive treatment (ECT) might be a choice assuming that mania becomes dangerous, or for individuals who have bipolar disorder which doesn't answer different medicines. ECT passes controlled flows of power through the brain to make a concise seizure altogether influencing specific synthetics and neurons within the mind.
How To Recover From A Manic Episode?
During the recovery phase, it is time to reclaim your life and routine. The lessons you've learned from the episode, such as potential triggers, should be discussed with your mental health professional and loved ones. You can also get back on track with your exercise, eating, and sleeping routines.
Consider what you can gain from this episode and how you can assist yourself in the future. This will assist you later in participating in mania prevention.
How To Prevent Mania?
You can reduce the risk of manic episodes by following the below-mentioned preventive measures.
- After a manic episode, many people learn what might cause their next one. Common triggers for manic episodes include: drinking or using illegal drugs, staying up late and not getting enough sleep, hanging out with people who are known to be a bad influence (like those who usually try to get you to drink or use drugs), going off your regular diet or exercise routine, taking your medications or not taking them, or going to therapy sessions. Keeping a routine as much as possible can help reduce manic episodes. However, keep in mind that it will not completely stop them.
- Take your medications as prescribed by your doctor to lessen the frequency of manic episodes.
- Maintain a regular schedule, exercise, consume a well-balanced diet, and get a good night's sleep. Minor mood swings that can lead to more severe mania can be reduced by this.
- Stick to schedules. Head to sleep at a set time, regardless of whether you're not drained. Likewise, adhere to similar times for eating dinners, taking prescriptions, and working out.
- Limit the number of social contacts to hold you back from getting excessively invigorated and energized.
- Defer settling on any significant life choices and large buys.
- Stay away from individuals and circumstances that could entice you to settle on poor or unsafe decisions, like consuming sporting medications or drinking liquor.
- Consider choosing somebody to deal with your funds during a hyper episode.
Complications Of Mania
If left untreated, bipolar disorder can lead to serious complications that affect every aspect of your life, such as
Suicide or attempts at it; legal or financial issues; damaged relationships; poor performance at work or school; problems with drugs and alcohol.
- Impaired Judgment: During manic episodes, people frequently show misguided thinking, which can prompt risky behaviors, for example, careless driving, substance misuse, or participating in unsafe sexual exercises.
- Financial Problems: Mania can lead to impulsive spending sprees and poor financial decisions, potentially causing financial ruin or debt.
- Relationship Issues: Manic episodes can strain relationships because of irritability, impulsivity, and unpredictable behavior. This can prompt struggles with companions, relatives, and collaborators.
- Occupational Problems: Mania can disrupt one's ability to maintain stable employment. Impulsivity, poor concentration, and erratic behavior can lead to job loss or difficulty in finding and keeping employment.
- Legal Issues: Engaging in risky or illegal behaviors during manic episodes, such as theft or assault, can result in legal troubles.
- Physical Health Complications: Lack of sleep and excessive energy expenditure during mania can lead to physical health issues such as exhaustion, weakened immune system, and increased susceptibility to illness.
- Psychosis: In severe cases, mania can escalate into psychosis, which includes symptoms like delusions (false beliefs) and hallucinations (false sensory perceptions). This can further complicate the individual's life and require hospitalization.
- Substance Misuse: People with bipolar disorder are at an increased risk of substance misuse, and manic episodes can exacerbate this risk as people may use substances to self-medicate or cope with the intensity of their symptoms.
- Medical Neglect: During manic episodes, individuals may neglect their basic self-care needs, such as eating, sleeping, and attending medical appointments, which can lead to physical health problems.
- Injury: The increased energy and impulsivity associated with mania can lead to accidents and injuries, particularly if individuals engage in risky activities.
- Cycling: Mania often alternates with depressive episodes in bipolar disorder, leading to a cycle of mood disturbances. These mood swings can be exhausting and disruptive to daily life.
- Social Isolation: People with bipolar disorder may withdraw from social activities and relationships during depressive episodes, contributing to social isolation.
- Suicidal Thoughts and Behaviors: Both manic and depressive episodes can be associated with suicidal thoughts and behaviors, which require immediate attention and intervention.
FAQs About Mania
1. What is mania?2. What are the common symptoms of mania?
3. How long does a manic episode typically last?
4. Can mania occur without bipolar disorder?
Mania is generally associated with bipolar disorder, yet it can likewise happen in different circumstances like schizoaffective disorder or because of substance misuse.
5. How is mania diagnosed?
6. What are the complications of untreated mania?
7. What treatments are available for mania?
8. Can mania be prevented?
9. How can family and friends support someone experiencing mania?
10. Are there lifestyle changes that can help manage mania?
Indeed, lifestyle changes, for example, keeping a regular sleep schedule, managing stress, keeping away from liquor and medication use, and taking part in ordinary activity can help manage symptoms of mania.