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Mania is a term used to describe episodes of elevated mood associated with bipolar disorder, but it can also refer to a range of psychological disorders. Mania can cause hyperactivity, impulsivity, and grandiose ideas, and can lead to harmful behavior. Treatment focuses on the underlying psychological problem.
In its most common usage, the term mania refers to episodes of severely elevated mood, usually associated with bipolar disorder. However, the suffix -mania, which suggests an obsession or insanity, is used to denote a large number of psychological disorders collectively known as mania.
In bipolar disorder, episodes of general mania alternate with episodes of severe depression. During episodes of mania, sufferers experience a disturbingly elevated mood and loss of control, which can trigger a host of other symptoms. Manic patients may experience hyperactivity, increased talkativeness, impulsive behavior, and grandiose ideas. In some cases, bipolar patients may experience hypomania, a less severe form of mania in which loss of control is not a factor.
While mania is most often associated with bipolar disorder, there are many other types of mania that can affect people. Some delusions are more common among people with a related psychological disorder. For example, many individuals with OCD experience arrhythmomania or an obsession with counting and numbers.
Maniacs can drastically affect a person’s behavior, particularly in the arena of impulse control. In some cases, certain foibles can cause a person to become a danger to themselves. Trichotillomania is a fairly common impulse control disorder in which a person obsessively pulls their hair out. Similarly, dermatillomania is characterized by a need to pinch one’s skin.
The obsessions induced by some mania can cause sufferers to engage in illegal or aberrant behavior. For example, kleptomaniacs are driven to compulsive shoplifting, while arsonists may become obsessed with starting fires. Other foibles lead to behaviors that are harmful to interpersonal relationships. A person with mythomania may alienate others with compulsive lying, while nymphomaniacs are individuals who suffer from an abnormally high sex drive.
While manias such as those listed above are widely recognized as common psychological problems, the suffix -mania can be added to any number of Latin root words to define manias that are particular to smaller groups of individuals. For example, sitomania is defined as an unhealthy obsession with food. Adding extra root words can further specify more common foibles, such as bibliocleptomania, a compulsion to steal books. In Standard English, the suffix -mania is more casually used to indicate enthusiasm or a healthy obsession with a particular subject. Examples of more casual manias include beatlemania, a term for the international obsession with the Beatles in the 1960s, or pottermania, experienced by Harry Potter fans everywhere.
By themselves, most delusions are not psychological disorders; rather, delusions tend to be symptoms of other psychological disorders. Therefore, treatment for mania is primarily psychiatric and focuses on the underlying psychological problem. For example, an individual suffering from OCD that manifests itself in the form of ablutomania or a preoccupation with cleanliness would likely be treated for the disorder rather than mania.
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