Quote:
Originally Posted by A Red Panda
Mania does not need to have psychosis.
Mania will have a significant impact on your life. Hypomania might have an impact, or it might not.
I've never been manic. My hypomanias are great though - I'm more impulsive but I've got various rules for myself set up that I follow to help curb that. But I don't lose touch with reality or my life, and I can maintain my life - my job, my home life, my social life, my finances - none of those will be significantly impacted by my hypomania.
To me it's probably the biggest distinction - mania will often cause lots of difficulties with your normal life, but hypomania won't have such large consequences. I also think that hypomania can be fairly easy to "hide" whereas mania... will likely be a lot more noticeable.
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I must agree. I have only been what I consider manic a couple of times, all medication induced. I left to my own devices I spend the majority of an episode hypomanic, wih maybe a couple of days fully manic, which doesn't count toward diagnostic criteria. I don't think med induced manias count either. When I am hypo no one is usually the wiser, though I do get comments on how fast I'm talking/walking and how restless I seem. But when I get a comment I make a conscious effort to dial it back, which I doubt I would do if I were fully manic.
Right now my BP 1 dx is hinged on the presence of mixed states, which I understand many BP 2 people here experience. I also had an episode of full mania with psychosis, but it was med induced, so I can't be sure whether I really do have BP 1 or 2. But I also don't think it really matters for me. I'll treat then both the same regardless of which one.