Hypomania - A dangerous condition for someone suffering from bipolar disorder

Hypomania - A dangerous condition for someone suffering from bipolar disorder

What is Hypomania? It is a state of mind without full mania. A person with bipolar disorder is at risk in several ways when experiencing hypomania. Without treatment, the affected person could progress to a more dangerous mood disorder. Additionally, the symptoms can cause someone in this state of mind to take actions that endanger themselves and even their relationships.

Bipolar disorder is a cyclical mood disorder. For someone so affected by hypomania, this is a dangerous part of the disorder. Generally, it leads to the next mood disorder in a particular person's cyclical pattern. In bipolar type 1, this is usually a period of mania. In bipolar type 2, this is more of a period of depression. In cyclothymia disorders, mild depression is the next likely mental state. Whichever way it goes, hypomania usually indicates that the next problem is near.

Let's look at the symptoms of hypomania. This is what a person with bipolar disorder sees when they experience an episode. Symptoms include:

• Feeling extremely cheerful, happy and excited

• Increased energy, inability to sit still and more than normal activity

• Talk more, faster than normal, and often louder than normal

• an increased sex drive

• Recklessness combined with poor decisions and

• Increased risk of problems with alcohol and drugs.

These symptoms combine to put a person with bipolar disorder at high risk for themselves. Poor decisions can lead to inappropriate sexual relationships. Financial contracts may be entered into with no chance of being fulfilled. Excessive use of drugs and/or alcohol can cause serious problems for the affected person and their friends and loved ones. The actions of people with bipolar disorder in a hypomanic state can lead to the breakdown of valuable relationships with friends and loved ones. This leads to the collapse of important support networks.

There is another problem for a person with bipolar disorder who has a hypomanic mental state. Often the increased activity makes them feel great. You attack life with renewed vigor. This creates a state of joy in their mind that they don't want to end. As a result, they refuse to seek treatment for the hypomania. Some will even go so far as to deny that there is a problem. For them, life is wonderful.

What exactly are the dangers of the hypomanic mental state for a person suffering from bipolar disorder? One is that the state is often a very good indicator that the next state of mind in the person's cycle is very close. The next stage is often even more dangerous than hypomania.

Another danger is that the person will behave recklessly, which can lead to breakdowns in important relationships with friends and loved ones. Finally, there is a risk that the affected person will deny the existence of a problem or refuse to seek help for it. The irony is that the easiest way to treat bipolar disorder is with a hypomanic episode.

Inspired by Ray J Tyler