Hypomania

[anica]

That's not entirely correct, but pretty accurate.



If it lasts over a week, it's a manic episode.



Always a trigger for mania, depression, or my personal favorite, mixed episodes, though it's not always what you would think. Examples:

Stress
Not enough sleep
Too much sleep
Too much caffeine
Drugs

Yeah, mixed episodes are the pits and have landed me in the hospital on occasion. So far as I've been able to tell, my main, if not my only trigger, is stress, though I suppose it's possible, given my dislike of sleep, it could be too little sleeo at times. My psychologist and psychiatrist both ask me carefully about my sleep at every appointment.

The other thing is, my doc measures the difference between hypomania and mania in terms of the length and intensity of the episode, not in terms of psychosis, though I've seen that as a requirement elsewhere.

 

[chain]

Yeah, mixed episodes are the pits and have landed me in the hospital on occasion. So far as I've been able to tell, my main, if not my only trigger, is stress, though I suppose it's possible, given my dislike of sleep, it could be too little sleeo at times. My psychologist and psychiatrist both ask me carefully about my sleep at every appointment.

The other thing is, my doc measures the difference between hypomania and mania in terms of the length and intensity of the episode, not in terms of psychosis, though I've seen that as a requirement elsewhere.

My biggest tends to be family and/or relationship stress. My tendency to run myself into the ground can also put me in a manic state, depressive state or into a bout of rapid cycling, but the symptoms aren't as debilitating.

I used to see that a lot too and now it's mystically gone. Funny thing is, both are/were mentioned as being per the DSM-IV and in numerous places.

 

[anica]

I found this article, a portion of which I'm copying here, on a site I subscribe to that has great info on bipolar. I thought it might be particularly helpgul to Dragon:

The National Institute of Mental Health highlight differences between bipolar symptoms in teens and those of adults. They point out that when manic, young people are more likely to exhibit destructive behavior than to have any sense of elation. When depressed, they complain more about physical problems like headaches, stomach pains, fatigue and a general sense of feeling unwell. Frequent absences from school, unexplained crying, problems with social contacts, communication, and extreme sensitivity to any form of rejection or failure, are all symptomatic.

For the rest of the article, see: http://www.healthcentral.com/bipolar/c/7712/77399/bipolar-disorder?ic=6039. I don't know if you'll have to subscribe to read the whole article, but it's a worthwhile site that keeps up with the latest on bipolar, so it may be worth it.