If someone says to you, "I'm so tired, I don't seem to be interested in anything," you can definitely react in a second, whether the person is depressed.
But if you change the situation, when there is a person who is very happy, pulls you to talk, does everything smoothly and quickly, and is very confident in himself, you may not feel that there is anything unusual about him.
People are often wary of negative emotions but turn a blind eye to the excitement of others, which is why depression is better known and mania is often overlooked.
Not only is it difficult for others to detect, but sometimes it is difficult for patients themselves to detect.
Unlike depression, which shows a depressed mood and lack of interest, mania manifests itself in the opposite way.
Mania tends to be emotionally charged
Patients will be in a very good mood, think quickly, be energetic, and often be a little bloated, have a very high self-esteem, and look down on others.
In real life, if there is no relevant knowledge, or the first attack, probably no one will think about the aspect of the disease, even if the people around them find it wrong and give a reminder, the patient is often difficult to accept.
It is not until after repeated occurrences that patients may go to the hospital for examination and treatment.
The diagnosis of mania requires the satisfaction of symptom criteria, course criteria, severity criteria, and exclusion criteria. The first three items can be referred to the standard for simple self-examination.
/ Symptom Criteria /
People with mania will have an emotional upswing, but if you look closely, you will find that there is no corresponding situation basis for this high emotion, that is, unprovoked excitement.
In addition, there are people who can appear to be irritable, and will be angry because of very small things, exaggerated behavior, and even hit people and destroy things.
Of course, each patient will have individual differences and different manifestations, which can be summarized as the following 8 items.
(1) Inattention
Attention is often shifted with the environment, and it is easy to have a plummeting decline in academic performance and a continuous decrease in work efficiency.
(2) Talk endlessly
There is a lot of speech, and even some people can say white foam at the corners of their mouths, and it is difficult for others to interject.
(3) Thinking freely
The brain can spin fast, be smart and flexible, and be creative.
(4) Self-evaluation is over- or exaggerated
There are even ideas that they are qualified to serve as Secretary-General of the United Nations, etc., which are not commensurate with their actual capabilities.
(5) Energetic
Always busy, but always do things with a beginning and an end.
From the appearance point of view, women may pay more attention to dressing up, changing several sets of clothes in a day; men may be full of red light and smile.
(6) Increased movement behavior and reckless behavior
Doing things without thinking about the consequences, being irresponsible, such as calling someone in the middle of the night.
It may also go around, invite people to eat, buy things, and consume luxury, for example, some patients will borrow money everywhere, and it costs hundreds of thousands of dollars to shop in a day.
(7) The time required for sleep is reduced
Some people may sleep two or three hours a day enough, and they will still be energetic the next day.
(8) Hypersexuality
Men and women who have not entered the marriage stage may manifest themselves in frequent changes of sexual partners, or even several in a week or two.
Those who enter the marriage stage may frequently ask for sex, which is significantly more than usual, and there may even be cheating behavior, resulting in unstable married life.
/ Course Criteria /
Manic episodes take more than 1 week, i.e. symptoms need to persist for more than 1 week to rule out some occasional occurrences due to temporary circumstances.
/ Severity Criteria /
Manic episodes often impair the patient's normal social function, such as students may be inattentive, unable to listen to lectures, running around, resulting in a plummeting decline in academic performance; people who work may not be able to work quietly, and work efficiency is significantly reduced.
In addition to influencing oneself, it may also cause some adverse effects on others.
/ Exclusion Criteria /
If you meet the above conditions, or you can't judge yourself and have doubts, it is recommended to go to the hospital for medical treatment and listen to the opinions of professional doctors.
Doctors consider the patient's medical history (when the disease began, symptoms, triggers, evolution, and diagnosis and treatment), combined with psychological tests, imaging tests, psychiatric examinations, etc. to make a comprehensive judgment.
More importantly, some cerebral organic mental disorders, such as hepatic encephalopathy, head trauma, tumor mass lesions, cerebral infarction, cerebral hemorrhage, etc., can also have some short-term euphoria, or some manic-like manifestations.
Some psychoactive substances and non-addictive substances, such as alcohol, can also cause mania-like seizures, such as people who have very little to say, after drinking alcohol, they become very talkative and begin to brag.
After the initial episode of mania, there will be a period of remission, during which the emotional stability and irritability are also significantly alleviated, but after the remission period, mania can re-attack, but the cause and time of the re-attack are difficult to clarify.
There is also a condition in which the initial manic episode is relieved, the next episode may be transformed into a depressive episode, with low mood, slow thinking, loss of interest, inattention, decreased activity, loss of appetite, insomnia, early awakening, or drowsiness.
If hyperactivity and depression alternate
Be wary of bipolar disorder
The two extreme states of depression and hyperactivity, if repeated alternating episodes, or even mixed seizures (switching episodes in a very short period of time), then it is not a simple mania, but a bipolar disorder.
Bipolar disorder, also known as "genius disease", van gogh, Churchill, Hemingway and other celebrities have suffered from this disease.
On January 17, 2022, Hangzhou Daily also published a report describing the growth experience of Mr. Jin Xiaoyu, a "genius translator" suffering from bipolar disorder, which touched everyone for a while.
Regarding bipolar disorder, we also introduced it in previous articles, clicking on the blue word to view the → sometimes manic, sometimes depressed, "I can't control myself!" ”
Mania is mainly treated symptomatically
Since the cause of mania is not yet clear, it is impossible to treat the cause, and at present, it is mainly for the symptoms of mania, through drugs, psychological treatment and other ways to carry out symptomatic treatment.
Clinically, it can achieve a healing effect, alleviate manic symptoms, and enable patients to return to normal study, work, and life.
How to treat it, click on the link to see what treatments are available for → manic episodes? -【Medical Microvision】
References: Medical Microvision official website - Sun Yi Chief Physician "Manic Attack"