I questioned this same thing for over a year. When I thought of mania, I thought of someone who was completely out-of-control and psychotic; since I didn't fit those criteria, I figured mine stopped at hypomania.

WRONG!! I have hypomania that is distinct from what my pdoc flat-out calls mania: a wildly irregular, expensive, and incredibly dangerous mood swing for me. I'm rarely if ever psychotic, unless you count paranoia (which comes out to play toward the end of an episode) but I start out with the euphoria and end up being a raging you-know-what.

Contrast this with my hypomania, which consists of an elevated mood, abundant energy, an optimistic, dreamy view of the world and everything in it, and an extraordinary appreciation of beauty.

So that's why I carry the BP 1 designation instead of BP 2, I experience both full-blown mania and mixed episodes. It took a while to straighten it all out, but once I was put on an antipsychotic permanently, I've settled down a lot.