Ultimate Guide to Hypomania

Excerpts from
Article by Robin L. Flanigan


Ramaswamy encourages her clients to regulate their hypomanic buzz.

“It’s not so different than fizz in a soda can,” she says. “You don’t shake it up, you contain it.”
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Nate of Wisconsin, [...] has a rule for himself when his mind starts coming up with grand ideas.

“I always wait one week before I do something about it or even talk to somebody about it,” says the 36-year-old. “By having that period where I restrain myself from action, I’ve been able to prevent a lot of mistakes.

Nate came up with his rule because he didn’t want to be known anymore as “the guy with big ideas who never follows through.”
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With help from medication, monthly therapy appointments, and a mood journal, Patti has been learning to manage her bipolar. She’s also learning how to prioritize where she puts her bursts of hypomanic energy. Rather than starting to paint a room, which may not get completed before the mood shift tapers down, she’ll focus on her writing

Both ends of the mood spectrum can be characterized by egocentricity: depression by inward-turning withdrawal, elevated states by increased immersion in your own lavish flow of ideas and activities. Ramsay says that as your pace picks up, you might start seeing others as slow or stupid, which adds to a sense of disconnection.

“It’s lonely to be faster and smarter, more effective than the people around you,” he says.

For some people, hypomania is characterized by irritability rather than exuberance. The ramped-up energy that hypomania can bestow feels like too much to handle. There may be an uncomfortable sense of urgency, agitation, of being pent-up or scattered.