I am old school so I start with Wikipedia when I want to learn something. This is what wiki has to say about mania:
Mania is the signature characteristic of bipolar disorder. Mania is generally characterized by a distinct period of an elevated mood, which can take the form of euphoria. People commonly experience an increase in energy and a
decreased need for sleep, with many often getting as little as three or four hours of sleep per night, while others can go days without sleeping.
[4] A person
may exhibit
pressured speech, with
thoughts experienced as racing.
[5] Attention span is low, and a person in a manic state
may be easily distracted. Judgment
may become impaired, and sufferers
may go on spending sprees or engage in behavior that is quite abnormal for them. They
may indulge in substance abuse, particularly alcohol or other depressants, cocaine or other stimulants, or sleeping pills. Their behavior
may become aggressive, intolerant, or intrusive. People
may feel out of control or unstoppable, or as if they have been "chosen" and are "on a special mission" or have other grandiose or delusional ideas. Sexual drive may increase. At more extreme phases of bipolar I, a person in a manic state can begin to experience
psychosis, or a break with reality, where thinking is affected along with mood.
[6] Some people in a manic state experience severe
anxiety and
are very irritable (to the point of rage), while others are
euphoric and grandiose.
To be diagnosed with mania according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), a person must experience this state of elevated or irritable mood, as well as other symptoms, for at least one week, less if hospitalization is required.
[7]
Severity of manic symptoms can be measured by rating scales such as self-reported
Altman Self-Rating Mania Scale[8] and clinician-based
Young Mania Rating Scale.
[9][10]
Sleep disturbance is the most common prodromal symptom; mood, psychomotor and appetite change, and anxiety can also occur up to three weeks before a manic episode develops.
[11]