Yes, you can cry more when manic, especially with dysphoric mania (mixed episodes) where sadness and irritability mix with high energy, leading to crying spells, rage-crying, or overwhelming emotional outbursts that seem contradictory, but it's the depressive side or emotional dysregulation of bipolar disorder that causes crying, not just mania itself. While mania usually involves elevated mood, it can include intense irritability, and the brain's emotional control is often dysregulated, making overreactions, including crying, more common.
Mania is a condition in which you have a period of abnormally elevated, extreme changes in your mood or emotions, energy level or activity level. This highly energized level of physical and mental activity and behavior must be a change from your usual self and be noticeable by others.
Identifying Mania
While not strictly defined by four stages in official diagnoses, mania in bipolar disorder is often described in escalating phases: Hypomania (milder, productive), Acute Mania (severe impairment, poor judgment), Delirious/Psychotic Mania (profound confusion, psychosis, dangerous), and sometimes an early Prodromal Stage with subtle shifts, with management focusing on a Maintenance Stage for stability.
Manic and hypomanic episodes include three or more of these symptoms:
The duration of a manic episode can vary, but in general: Untreated manic episodes typically last from one week to several weeks. Hypomanic episodes are less severe, usually lasting a few days to a week.
The first red flag of bipolar disorder often appears as significant changes in sleep patterns, mood instability (irritability/euphoria), increased energy/agitation, and rapid thoughts/speech, frequently mistaken for unipolar depression or normal moodiness, with sleep disruption (insomnia or oversleeping) and heightened irritability being very common early signs, notes Better Mental Health.
At the outset, bipolar symptoms are commonly mistaken for ADHD, depression, anxiety, borderline personality disorder, and, in its more severe manifestations, as schizophrenia.
The symptoms of mania include elevated mood (either euphoric or irritable), flight of ideas, pressure of speech, increased energy, decreased "need" and desire for sleep, and hyperactivity.
The results suggest that mania is associated with brain changes, i.e., decreases in gray matter metrics, most consistently reported in the prefrontal cortex.
Five key signs of bipolar disorder involve extreme mood shifts, including manic symptoms like inflated energy, reduced need for sleep, racing thoughts, impulsivity (spending, risky behavior), and irritability, alongside depressive symptoms such as profound sadness, loss of interest, fatigue, significant sleep/appetite changes, and suicidal thoughts, all lasting for extended periods and impacting daily life.
What causes hypomania and mania?
Bipolar Disorder: Helping Someone During a Manic Episode
A manic breakdown or episode is an emotional state where an elevated or irritable mood exists for at least one week. The symptoms can disrupt your daily life and relationships. While manic episodes are not a disorder in themselves, they may be a symptom of bipolar and should be taken seriously.
Here are some mindfulness practices that can help stop a manic episode: Focus on the breath: Sit quietly and focus on your breath, counting each inhale and exhale. Slow, intentional breathing helps reduce agitation and calms the nervous system, grounding you in the present moment.
The main symptom of bipolar disorder is extreme changes to your mood. You sometimes have either: high moods (mania or hypomania) – for example, feeling very happy, excited or energetic. low moods (depression) – for example, feeling sad, tired or hopeless.
How many hours should a bipolar person sleep? People should try to sleep at least 7 hours per night, regardless of whether they have a condition such as bipolar disorder.
The main mental illnesses which mimic bipolar mania are schizophrenia, severe anxiety, severe obsessive-compulsive disorder, or major depressive disorder with psychotic features.
Symptoms of bipolar disorder
Avoid Arguing or Raising Your Voice
Raising your voice or engaging in heated arguments with someone who has bipolar disorder can make the situation worse. During a manic episode, emotions are already heightened, and a raised tone or confrontation can escalate conflict and make it harder to manage.
Symptoms of BPD can include:
A pattern of intense and unstable relationships with others. This is where feelings can change quickly from love and closeness to hatred and anger. chronic feeling of emptiness. Impulsive or reckless behaviour, such as shopping sprees, gambling, substance abuse or unsafe sex.
The primary signs that mania is ending include the return of normal sleep needs, decreased energy levels, slower speech and thinking, normalized appetite, and the ability to sit still or concentrate on single tasks.
Those with bipolar I depression were mainly hospitalized in summer and winter, whereas for bipolar II depression most admissions for depression occurred in the spring and summer.