What does Hypomania actually feel like? (revised 3/2010)
It’s true that hypomania is a milder version of mania – just how mild, you’ll see in a moment. Mind you, Bipolar II is not a milder version of Bipolar I, though it is very often described that way, to my utter dismay. The suicide rate in Bipolar II is the same or higher than the rate for Bipolar I, for example. Dunner So the BP II version is definitely not a “mild” illness. The depression phases are as bad as in BP I, and often more common (that is, they occur more frequently and represent a more dominant part of the person’s life).
Nevertheless, hypomania can indeed by subtle, certainly by comparison with full mania, as shown in this graph (from Smith and Ghaemi). Here are the symptoms which people with clear-cut hypomania actually experience — and how often. For example, at the bottom of the graph you see that nearly 100% of people with hypomania will have an increase in their activity. By comparison, optimism is prominent only about 70% of the time in hypomania.
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As you can see, these “symptoms” are not clearly abnormal. Everyone experiences these feelings from time to time. When they are extreme; and when they show up over and over again in cycles of mood/energy change; when they are accompanied by other signs of bipolarity, such as phases of depression; that’s when we should think of this as “abnormal”, or at least as warranting caution if someone wants to treat those depressed phases with an antidepressant.
However, hypomania is not always positive. Just as manic phases can be very negative (so-called “dysphoric mania”), hypomania also can be very unpleasant. Here is an example of how hypomania can change from a positive experience to a very negative one (from a blogger who writes eloquently about bipolarity).
First, the positive phase:
Increased energy. A extraordinary feeling of happiness with myself and the world. A very loving feeling towards the people I care about. An uncommon ability to get things done. A huge burst of energy from the moment I awaken until I go to bed. An expanded ability to multi-task. An organizational acuity that is second to none. A willingness to engage with people. A desire to spend more time with people I care about–and even those I don’t.
Then, the negative phase of hypomania (still pretty subtle):
I start feeling burned out. While I still have a lot of energy, I don’t have that “I love the world” feeling. If I’ve been playing my Autoharp at my mother’s assisted living facility, and jumping up and down to help all the participants turn the pages and stay with me, I suddenly feel that the staff should be more helpful in doing this.
… things don’t just slide off my back. While I try not to “snap” back at people, I am not always successful. I am certainly less willing to ignore things that days or weeks earlier wouldn’t have bothered me at all.
I become far less happy, joyful, and kind. I dislike being criticized in any which way.
Bipolar Support Groups.com blog 