Hypomanic? Absolutely. But Oh So Productive!
At some point, almost everyone encounters them - restless, eager people, consumed with confident curiosity. Researchers suspect that their mental fever shares some genetic basis with that of bipolar disorder, known colloquially as manic depression, a psychiatric disorder characterized by effusive emotional highs and bouts of paralyzing despair.
In recent decades, scientists have found that bipolar disorder is widely variable, and that its milder forms are marked by hypomanias, currents of mental energy and concentration that are less reckless than full-blown manic frenzies, and unspoiled, in many cases, by subsequent gloom.
I used to be convinced I was ever so slightly bi-polar, but I've mellowed with age. I miss the hypomania, and I suppose I still have flashes of it from time to time, but luckily the down-swings have become little more than a lack of "inspiration" these days.
Related Reading: