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Mania

From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mania is a type of mood. Mania is usually a symptom of a medical problem or a mental illness. A person with mania is described as manic.

When people are manic, they usually have much more energy than usual. They often have very strong emotions, and their moods may change very quickly.[1]

The word "mania" comes from the Greek language (μwordsανία means mania).[2] That word comes from μαίνομαι (mainomai), which means "to rage" or "to be furious" (very angry).

Mania is a symptom, not an illness by itself. Many different things can cause mania. These things include illegal drugs and brain tumors. However, most of the time, mania happens in people with bipolar disorder. Bipolar disorder causes periods of mania that switch off with periods of depression.[3]

Like with other symptoms, mania can be mild (not very bad), severe (very bad), or anywhere in between. Mild mania is usually called "hypomania." Very bad mania can cause psychosis, with hallucinations and delusions.[4]

Sometimes people with mania may need to be hospitalized so they do not hurt themselves or other people. Many people with mania and hypomania have special creativity and artistic talents.[5]

Symptoms

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The most common symptoms of mania are:[3]

  • A mood that is either euphoric (very happy) or irritable (easily irritated or angered)
  • Being very talkative. This includes talking very quickly (pressured speech) and jumping from one idea to the next very quickly (flight of ideas).
  • Having an unusual amount of energy
  • Not needing sleep
  • Being very hyper
Patients with delusions of grandeur may wrongly think they are much more powerful than they really are (Megalomania).

Other symptoms of mania can include:[3]

  • Racing thoughts, which can sometimes make it impossible for the person to concentrate on anything other than their thoughts[6]
  • Acting impulsively (doing things without thinking them through), like spending a lot of money or having unsafe sex. People are more likely to put themselves in danger when they are manic.[7][8]
  • Physical symptoms, like sweating, pacing, and losing weight
  • Hypersexuality (wanting to have sex much more than usual)
  • Delusions, like:
    • Delusions of grandeur: The person believes he is very important - for example, that he knows everything, or is famous, all-powerful, or very wealthy
    • Delusions of potential: The person believes he can do things he cannot really do (for example, believing he can build a house on his own, when he has never built anything before)
    • Delusions of persecution: The person believes other people are "out to get him" and are causing his problems on purpose

Official diagnosis (DSM-5)

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In the United States, a book called The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), published by the American Psychiatric Association, is used to diagnose mental illnesses. According to the latest version of the DSM, the DSM-5, a person is having a "manic episode" if all of these things are true:[3]

  1. The person's mood has been unusually euphoric or irritable for seven days or more
  2. The person's mood changes are not caused by illegal drugs, medicine, or a medical illness
  3. The person's mania is:
    1. Causing them obvious problems at work, with family, or friends; OR
    2. Making them psychotic; OR
    3. Making them a danger to self or others

In addition, the person must also have three or more of these symptoms:

  1. Inflated self-esteem or grandiosity (the person feels like he is very important and special)
  2. Needs only a little sleep to feel rested
  3. More talkative than usual; or the person seems like they have to keep talking (pressured speech)
  4. Jumping from one idea to another; or the person feels like their thoughts are racing
  5. Increase in "goal-directed activity," like taking on big new projects; or "psychomotor agitation" (moving around a lot, unable to sit still)
  6. Being easily distracted (the person's attention is drawn too easily to things that are not important)
  7. Doing a lot of activities that have a high risk of turning out badly (for example, spending a lot of money; going on sexual adventures)

Official diagnosis (ICD-10)

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Demi Lovato, singer, actress, and writer who has said they have bipolar disorder[9][10]

The ICD-10 is the World Health Organization's system for classifying health problems. It describes a manic episode this way:[11]

  • The person's mood is euphoric, and can change from being happy and carefree, to "almost uncontrollable excitement"
  • The person has an unusual amount of energy and is always doing some kind of activity
  • The person seems like they have to keep talking
  • The person does not seem to need sleep
  • The person cannot pay attention to anything, and gets distracted very easily
  • Often, the person feels very important, is much more confident than usual, and has unreasonable ideas about what they can do (for example, they may feel like nothing can stop them from getting what they want)
  • The person does not have normal social inhibitions (a sense of what is right and appropriate to do around other people). This can lead to behavior that is inappropriate, reckless, and unusual for the person.

Causes

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Mental illness

Mania is usually a symptom of mental illness, most often bipolar disorder. A diagnosis of type I bipolar disorder (bipolar I disorder) can be made based on a single manic episode. This is the most common cause of mania.[3] If a person is hypomanic, they may have type II bipolar disorder or cyclothymia.[11] If a person has psychosis that lasts longer than their mania, they may have schizoaffective disorder.[11]

Medical causes

Mania is usually caused by a mental illness. However, some medical illnesses can cause symptoms of mania. Some doctors use the mnemonic E-MANIC to remember the possible medical causes of mania:[12]

Not having enough vitamin B-12 (vitamin B-12 deficiency) can also cause mania and psychosis.[13][14]

Medical treatment

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If mania is caused by a medical problem, the best thing to do is to treat that medical problem.

If mania is caused by a mental illness, the best treatment is a combination of medicines and psychotherapy (talking with a therapist or counselor).

Doctors usually treat mania with a combination of mood stabilizers and antipsychotic medicines.[15] While taking these medicines, the patient should see their doctor regularly to be checked for side effects.

When the symptoms of mania have ended, long-term treatment then focuses on preventative treatment. The goal of this kind of treatment is to prevent periods of mania or depression from happening. Very often, this is done using a combination of drugs and psychotherapy. Medication works best for bipolar disorder, and other mental illnesses, when it is combined with other treatments like psychotherapy.[16]

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References

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Notes

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  1. ↑ Berrios GE (2004). "Of mania". History of Psychiatry. 15 (57 Pt 1): 105–124. doi:10.1177/0957154X04041829. PMID 15104084. S2CID 144834866.
  2. ↑ Mania, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, at Perseus
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders: DSM-5. Washington, D.C.: American Psychiatric Association. 2022. ISBN 9780890425763.
  4. ↑ Semple, David (2005). Oxford Handbook of Psychiatry. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780198527831.
  5. ↑ Jamison, Kay R. (1996), Touched with Fire: Manic-Depressive Illness and the Artistic Temperament, New York: Free Press, ISBN 0-684-83183-X
  6. ↑ Ytham, Lakshmi N.; Kusumakar, Vivek; Kutchar, Stanley P. (2002). Bipolar Disorder: A Clinician's Guide to Biological Treatments. Psychology Press. p. 3. ISBN 9780415933902.
  7. ↑ Fletcher K, Parker G, Paterson A, Synnott H (2013). "High-risk behaviour in hypomanic states". J Affect Disord. 150 (1): 50–6. doi:10.1016/j.jad.2013.02.018. PMID 23489397.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  8. ↑ Pawlak J, Dmitrzak-Węglarz M, Skibińska M, Szczepankiewicz A, Leszczyńska-Rodziewicz A, Rajewska-Rager A, Maciukiewicz M, Czerski P, Hauser J (2013). "Suicide attempts and psychological risk factors in patients with bipolar and unipolar affective disorder". Gen Hosp Psychiatry. 35 (3): 309–13. doi:10.1016/j.genhosppsych.2012.11.010. PMID 23352318.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  9. ↑ "'Disney' Star Demi Lovato: I'm Bipolar". Fox News. 20 April 2011.
  10. ↑ "Bipolar Demi Lovato Talks Cutting, Eating Disorders". UsMagazine.com. 21 April 2011. Retrieved 5 August 2012.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 "ICD-10". Retrieved 18 October 2010.
  12. ↑ Khouzam, M.D., MPH, Hani Raoul; Gill, M.D., Tirath S. (February 2008). "Use "E-MANIC" for secondary mania workup". Current Psychiatry. 7 (2). Retrieved January 21, 2016.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  13. ↑ Sethi NK, Robilotti E, Sadan Y (2005). "Neurological Manifestations Of Vitamin B-12 Deficiency". The Internet Journal of Nutrition and Wellness. 2 (1).{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  14. ↑ Masalha R, Chudakov B, Muhamad M, Rudoy I, Volkov I, Wirguin I (2001). "Cobalamin-responsive psychosis as the sole manifestation of vitamin B12 deficiency". Israeli Medical Association Journal. 3: 701–703. Archived from the original on 2012-03-07. Retrieved 2016-01-21.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  15. ↑ Cipriani A, Barbui C, Salanti G, Rendell J, Brown R, Stockton S, Purgato M, Spineli LM, Goodwin GM, Geddes JR (2011). "Comparative efficacy and acceptability of antimanic drugs in acute mania: a multiple-treatments meta-analysis". Lancet. 378 (9799): 1306–15. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(11)60873-8. PMID 21851976. S2CID 25512763.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  16. ↑ Melinda Smith, M.A., Lawrence Robinson, Jeanne Segal, Ph.D., and Damon Ramsey, MD (1 March 2012). "The Bipolar Medication Guide". HelpGuide.org. Archived from the original on 10 March 2012. Retrieved 23 March 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

More reading

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Other websites

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The Simple English Wiktionary has a definition for: mania.
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