On Being Hypomanic

Hypomania means elevated mood and energy. When you see bipolar romanticized, it’s likely hypomania they’re talking about. Increased creativity and drive do lead to increased output, but also to obsession, neglecting loved ones and your own health.

Six of the books I’ve written were first scrawled during hypomanic episodes. I know of which I speak.

When I’m hypomanic, I think I’m smarter, funnier, stronger. I think I heal faster. I also have zero impulse control. Some people in hypomania go on spending sprees, gamble, or have a lot of sex. It is the worst time to make life decisions and almost impossible not to.

Hypomania is addictive. It feels so good, until it doesn’t. In a depression, man, all I want is a little hit of that hypomania. Not just for the joy, the brightness, the buzz, but to feel jazzed about something, anything, to have drive and purpose.

Hypomania is hard to give up (to slam the door on with long- and short-term medication) but treating the bad in this case also means treating the good, which also, really, is bad.

So what’s mania then?

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