Hypomania

Hypomania (literally "under mania" or "less than mania")^[3] is a mental and behavioral disorder,^[4] characterised essentially by an apparently non-contextual elevation of mood (euphoria) that contributes to persistently disinhibited behavior.

The individual with the condition may experience irritability,^[5] not necessarily less severe than full mania;^{[citation needed]} in fact, the presence of marked irritability is a documented feature of hypomanic and mixed episodes in bipolar type II.^{[citation needed]} According to DSM-5 criteria, hypomania is distinct from mania in that there is no significant functional impairment; mania, by DSM-5 definition, does include significant functional impairment and may have psychotic features.

Characteristic behaviors of people experiencing hypomania are a notable decrease in the need for sleep, an overall increase in energy, unusual behaviors and actions, and a markedly distinctive increase in talkativeness and confidence, commonly exhibited with a flight of creative ideas. Other symptoms related to this may include feelings of grandiosity, distractibility, and hypersexuality.^[6] While hypomanic behavior often generates productivity and excitement, it can become troublesome if the subject engages in risky or otherwise inadvisable behaviors, and/or the symptoms manifest themselves in trouble with everyday life events.^[7] When manic episodes are separated into stages of a progression according to symptomatic severity and associated features, hypomania constitutes the first stage of the syndrome, wherein the cardinal features (euphoria or heightened irritability, pressure of speech and activity, increased energy, decreased need for sleep, and flight of ideas) are most plainly evident.