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hey there everybody and welcome back to the addiction and co-occurring disorders
treatment manual today we're discussing unit 1 part 4 an introduction to mania
i'm your host dr donnelly 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 direct 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 uh activities that have
an excess 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 an 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
and 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 uh 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
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