The 10 Signs of Hypomania

I recently watched a very good video on YouTube which explored the ten main signs of hypomania. Here they are:

1. Feeling unusually motivated or having more energy than usual: Recently for me this meant doing extra hours at work and staying late when I didn’t have to.
2. Creative bursts: I often have these random ‘big ideas’ like starting my own business or writing a novel. I never think about the time it takes to plan things like that or at least do some research.
3. Feeling paranoid: I started thinking that my colleagues at work were laughing and talking about me recently. This can also manifest itself in wondering why your friend hasn’t replied to your text or phoned when they said they would. You start questioning whether you’ve done something to upset them.
4. The ‘brain/mouth filter’ is off: You say things that could be taken as offensive or rude, when you know you wouldn’t normally be like that.
5. Bad time-management: This could mean taking on too many tasks or turning up late for things when you’re normally fairly organised.
6. Spending too much money: This one is self-explanatory but as an example I recently needed new glasses, so rather than spend a reasonable amount on a decent pair I spent £250 on the top of the range ones. I also spent £75 on a book recently on the off-chance that I might win a guitar. I can’t play guitar, and funnily enough, I didn’t win one.
7. Feeling angry/irritable: This one really resonates with me because I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve completely lost the plot over something that other people would see as trivial. Certain noises can irritate me, or being around too many people, or being too hot…the list is endless.
8. Talking faster than usual: I can’t say I’ve ever noticed this one but it’s certainly something I’ll look out for.
9. Rapid or racing thoughts: My mind can be thinking about three hundred things at once, so it’s little wonder that I have trouble concentrating sometimes. I’ll start thinking about say, a song for example, then I’ll pick up on a line or a word and that will lead me off on a tangent thinking about something to do with that word, and so on, and all of this happens in a few seconds. It’s like I can’t keep up with myself.
10. Feeling overwhelmed: This is a really big one for me. I get very emotional but I literally can’t explain why I’m crying. All I know is, I have to let it all out.

So there’s the list of the ten major signs of hypomania. It’s crazy to think that I was doing most of those things over the last few months but not noticing anything was wrong, but apparently that’s part of the illness – you aren’t aware that anything is wrong.