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Mania May Be a Mental Illness in Its Own Right
Article

Mania May Be a Mental Illness in Its Own Right

Hundreds of thousands of people experience mania without ever getting depressed. Why does psychiatry insist on calling them bipolar?

Simon Makin
Scientific American, 2019
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Bipolar disorder is a widely recognized condition. So is depression, its darker side. Yet unlike depression, mania – the “upside” of bipolar disorder – is still not officially classified as an illness in its own right, despite hundreds of thousands of people experiencing episodes of mania without ever falling into depression. This poses problems when attempting to effectively treat unipolar mania, as it is called. Science writer Simon Makin investigates what is known about unipolar mania, why there is a reluctance about categorizing it as a “stand-alone” illness and the problems its unclassified status causes for treatment and research. The article will challenge physicians, pharmacists and anyone concerned with the diagnosis and impact of mental illness.

Summary

Thousands of people experience mania, the “upside” of bipolar disorder, without ever falling into depression.

Mania is best known as one of the two sides of bipolar disorder. There are many cases of people going through manic episodes regularly, but never falling into depression. Mania is often described as the “upside of bipolar disorder” and can manifest in bursts of energy and creativity, but also in reckless behavior, delusion, inflated self-esteem and grandiosity. In extreme instances, mania may require hospitalization.

While depression has its own distinct diagnosis, mania is still only seen as one side of bipolar disorder.

In the 1960s a study...

About the Author

Simon Makin is a freelance science writer based in London.

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