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Unipolar mania

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http://www.google.com/search?q=unipolar+mania

Unipolar mania describes recurrent episodes of mania in the absence of depressive illness.

Unipolar Mania (part of DSM-IV Bipolar I Disorder)
Research has found scant evidence for the existence of "unipolar mania," in which a patient has only manic episodes and no depression or mixed states. For almost all examples (1) only a short history exists since onset, so over time depression may occur; or (2) patients do not recognize their own depression, though others do. [3] Other sources claim that unipolar mania exists, but is extremely rare. 90% of people who experience one manic episode go on to have further mood episodes.

In general, the manic episodes of "unipolar mania" seem to be the same as manic episodes of typical Bipolar I Disorder (mania and depression). The DSM-IV criteria for Bipolar I Disorder requires only manic episodes, so "unipolar mania" is classified as Bipolar I Disorder.

...

Unipolar Mania Over the Course of a 20-Year Follow-Up Study:
http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/160/11/2049

Recurrent Unipolar Mania: Does it Warrant a Separate Nosological Status?:
http://www.gjpsy.uni-goettingen.de/gjp-article-harish.pdf

Unipolarmania - It's good for life! :)
 
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If there was more evidence to indicate it existed, I might buy this, but 7 in 27 in 20 years doesn't sound very promising. Actually, it sounds more like problems in reporting.
 
Things in the DSM-IV should be taken with even more skepticism than the bible... anything written by a bunch of psychiatrists is hardly authoritative!
 
I had a manic episode back in January and February. I have not had any manic or depressive episodes since. Not sure if I will continue on a bi-polar course, a unipolar manic course or if my manic episode was some kind of temporary psychosis brought on by stress.
 
You would get ALOT done if it were possible to just stay in a constant manic state. I can't see it being completely impossible, but highly unlikely. People whoare naturally highly driven and self-motivated may be the closest thing to a unipolar maniac that there is.
 
^^

yes, but they are not really at all manic, just highly functional and confident in their abilities and good at time management and not procrastinating and the like

mania is another level that is potentially even far more productive (though not all manias of course are as it deopends on the type of mania and the person) but appears IMO to have an absolute negative alter ego (which is its bipolar outcome) and unipolar mania does in fact not exist to any notable degree

mania is very similar to taking potent dopaminergic stimulants and there is very little ability to have chronic use without a negative after effect and burnout
 
I think a lot of those people might qualify as cyclothymics but whose depressive episodes are too small to notice as such or simply aren't reported. Manic-depressives aren't the most reliable reporters.
 
Manic episodes are more often than not accompanied with high levels of anxiety, and a bunch of other 'counterproductive' symptoms associated with extreme arousal.


Let's not glorify it.
 
This matches me well indeed. I quite regularly have manic episodes where self-confidence soars, cognitive abilities increase, as does creativity. Visual patterning increases with it. Strong euphoria. Feels like i've taken something because I can't "snap out of it" and I most certainly know when one is about to happen and whatnot. I like them because I can get LOTS of work done - my favorite being coding, as i've written some very nice code during these episodes.
Interesting :) .
 
I don't see anyone glorifying mania. But, actually, having "suffered" more manias than I can count, and spending more than a little time in hospitals where I got to hang out with a bunch of other similarly inclined individuals, I can't say I've ever seen anyone experiencing "high levels of anxiety"

Later stages of mania include a lot of paranoia, delusions, a disposition toward anger and agitation, some of which probably includes plenty of anxious symptoms, but it's not what you'd recognize as typical anxiety.
 
LuxEtVeritas said:
^^

yes, but they are not really at all manic, just highly functional and confident in their abilities and good at time management and not procrastinating and the like

mania is another level that is potentially even far more productive (though not all manias of course are as it deopends on the type of mania and the person) but appears IMO to have an absolute negative alter ego (which is its bipolar outcome) and unipolar mania does in fact not exist to any notable degree

mania is very similar to taking potent dopaminergic stimulants and there is very little ability to have chronic use without a negative after effect and burnout
Click to expand...

I agree that behaviorally, mania resembles high doses of dopaminergic stimulants, but is anyone aware of any good studies that shed light on what is actually happening neurochemically? It's easy to categorize related symptoms and make the vacuous assumption that there exists similar underlying etiology, but...well I guess that really sums up my beef with clinical psychiatry in general.
 
fuck, I lost a huge post that was really good.

Anyway, it basically said: antiseizure meds are typically good antimanics. Depakote, Carbamazepine, etc, but some antiseizures are bad, Gabapentin, Topomax.

I think we need to look at the differences in action (gabapentin isn't a very good example here since it's so much different than the rest) and try to work backwards to finding the actual cause.

it's not like there's some endogenous stimulant present in manic people.
 
It could be that they all have effects on GABA, the main inhibitory neurotransmitter. This, however, would tell us nothing about the causes of mania.
 
There is certainly such a thing as drug-induced unipolar mania, which is probably influenced deeply by severe sleep deprivation. How do I know? I had two episodes of it last month.
Ham-milton said:
fuck, I lost a huge post that was really good.

Anyway, it basically said: antiseizure meds are typically good antimanics. Depakote, Carbamazepine, etc, but some antiseizures are bad, Gabapentin, Topomax.

I think we need to look at the differences in action (gabapentin isn't a very good example here since it's so much different than the rest) and try to work backwards to finding the actual cause.
Click to expand...
Why is gabapentin supposed to be "bad?" It's helped me in the past, although not extensively. IMO it's a bit too mild to do much for clinical levels of mania, but it can help (either as adjunct or replacement) once the mania has been brought under control with something else... in my case, that was Depakote and Seroquel.
 
The makers of gabapentin were recently fined by the FDA for marketing gabapentin as an antimania drug, even though there were no clinical trials supporting such use. Is this what Ham-milton is referring to?
 
yes, many antipsychotics are applied to treat bipolar disorder

notably there are many different ways manias can be expressed

some are near a full blown psychosis and others are on the opposite end of functionality where there is a heightened energy, focus, drive, and confidence in one's abilities

some are clean/devoid of anxiety or related and other are marred in a heavy state of anxiety or related to the point of classical paranoia again nearer the extreme of "psychotic mania"

set and setting has some influence as always to one's mental state and is amplified in "altered" states which mania is ...and same goes for depression of course

i would love to hear some comment if they can by experience, but i would not be surprised to hear someone note that a "good mania" can be superior to even the best dopaminergic stimulant or the like, at least for ultimate hyperfunctionality (not recreational)
 
Mania can have negative consequences on one's life as well. I can attest to this. Sometimes mania can make one lose all impulse control and use poor judgement if any judgement at all. You end up doing things because they sound good at the time or because you want to feel even better, because you have so much self confidence that even though you know it is wrong you think to yourself that everything will be ok even if you do said "wrong" thing. For example: I know someone that when manic they dropped everything in their life to go on a spontaneous roadtrip halfway across the country because it sounded like fun at the time and they were flying high on the euphoria of mania. They ended up losing their job becuase they had not shown up and also failed a class because they missed a test by doing this. I also know someone (not a regular gambler) that when manic they gambled away their entire savings. Mania can definately make it difficult to distinguish between actions with no consequences and actions with dire consequences.
 
dbailey11 said:
You would get ALOT done if it were possible to just stay in a constant manic state. I can't see it being completely impossible, but highly unlikely. People whoare naturally highly driven and self-motivated may be the closest thing to a unipolar maniac that there is.
Click to expand...


Absolute and total rubbish.:!

Yes, you would get a lot done in the sense that the manic individual was almost constantly active and unable to be drawn from any specific activity they were involved with. However, you would also hear constant complaints in regards to the limitations of everything and anything:

How the hell does anyone hoover every part of the carpet if they're forced to spend all their time moving furniture around? Cant a piece of paper stay still long enough for me to draw a line under the title? Did someone invent bookcases as a sick joke for people who actually don't want any fucking dust in their house - let alone having dust hidden in impossible to reach places. How long does it take for a washing machine to clean clothes? Why do I have to practically stand in front of the television for the so-called remote to fucking work? Is there no route from one room to another in this building that doesn't go via a creeking floorboard - why did people stop building houses that actually lasted long enough for people to live in them? Who has taken my pen? Why isn't my wife home yet and why hasn't she called? I'm going to call her and find out what the hell is going on (probably the 4th call in 30 minutes too).

People who are naturally driven and motivated have the ability to behave in a borderline manic style but bona-fide manics cant do the 'naturally driven and motivated' thing in a social environment.
 
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