Do you not want to be Hypomanic all the time? My ego is similarly divided, but no matter which state I’m in I always prefer hypomania to the alternatives… limitless energy with which I can question my epistemology for hours on end. It’s like waking up from a mildly entertaining dream and engaging in real and exciting problems in the real and exciting world for a few days or however long before I run out of drive.
Also, more fuel for multi-agent self model construction: Freud’s id/ego/super-ego distinction and discussion of defense mechanisms and Maslow’s hierarchy of competing thermostats are decent ontologies that I’m glad to be familiar with. These are applicable to all minds as well, not just temporally unstable ones.
There are several significant drawbacks to being in a hypomanic state.
It’s physically harmful. Sleeping six hours every three days is probably unhealthy by itself, but I sometimes push myself beyond my physical limits in other ways, and end up injuring myself.
It’s psychologically dangerous. The longer I spend in a hypomanic state, the more likely it is that I will crash straight into severe depression. Unlike depression, hypomania regresses to the mean, and I’ve never had one last longer than two weeks. I suspect this is mostly physical exhaustion catching up to me.
It’s short-sighted. In a hypomanic state, I act in an optimistic near-mode all the time. I don’t plan for the future, I don’t realistically assess risks, and I manage my time (including the new excess) very poorly.
It’s not creative. While hypomanic, I don’t think, I just do. I’ve never come up with a worthwhile research idea while in a hypomanic state, although I’ve occasionally thought I have. While I have a huge amount of energy to devote to projects, I’m much more likely to tackle the wrong project because it’s the first one I thought of. I’ve heard people exhibit similar behaviors when using Adderall to boost mental performance.
I’ve heard discussions about the usefulness of alternate states for different kinds of work, and hypomania is useful when I have a specific thing that I am already doing and willing to keep doing, but is too tiring for me to expect to finish in time. I saw a study that indicated people (neurotypicals, without a history of depression) are better at critical thinking when (mildly) depressed. This may be the case for me, but depression is way too severe for me to consider using it as a tool; regardless, I can’t coax my depressed self to do the simplest things, so I don’t know where the motivation would come from.
I feel super-energized sometimes, but I know that this is not a sustainable state, regardless of my wishes. My theory on it is that it takes up too much emotional energy to sustain such a period over an indefinite amount of time, so I finally get tired.
I know that I’m shamelessly generalizing from one example, but I don’t think that being Hypomanic is an option for him 100% of the time.
No, it’s not at all, and you’re not wrong to generalize in this case. For me, emotional energy is pretty boundless except as linked to physical energy, which eventually wears down. In one week of a hypomanic state I might run three marathons and sleep twelve hours. In my first drug-assisted state (I was originally put on paroxetine for depression, which apparently forces me into a hypomanic state) I slept three hours over a period of 10 days. That’s not sustainable!
Do you not want to be Hypomanic all the time? My ego is similarly divided, but no matter which state I’m in I always prefer hypomania to the alternatives… limitless energy with which I can question my epistemology for hours on end. It’s like waking up from a mildly entertaining dream and engaging in real and exciting problems in the real and exciting world for a few days or however long before I run out of drive.
Also, more fuel for multi-agent self model construction: Freud’s id/ego/super-ego distinction and discussion of defense mechanisms and Maslow’s hierarchy of competing thermostats are decent ontologies that I’m glad to be familiar with. These are applicable to all minds as well, not just temporally unstable ones.
There are several significant drawbacks to being in a hypomanic state.
It’s physically harmful. Sleeping six hours every three days is probably unhealthy by itself, but I sometimes push myself beyond my physical limits in other ways, and end up injuring myself.
It’s psychologically dangerous. The longer I spend in a hypomanic state, the more likely it is that I will crash straight into severe depression. Unlike depression, hypomania regresses to the mean, and I’ve never had one last longer than two weeks. I suspect this is mostly physical exhaustion catching up to me.
It’s short-sighted. In a hypomanic state, I act in an optimistic near-mode all the time. I don’t plan for the future, I don’t realistically assess risks, and I manage my time (including the new excess) very poorly.
It’s not creative. While hypomanic, I don’t think, I just do. I’ve never come up with a worthwhile research idea while in a hypomanic state, although I’ve occasionally thought I have. While I have a huge amount of energy to devote to projects, I’m much more likely to tackle the wrong project because it’s the first one I thought of. I’ve heard people exhibit similar behaviors when using Adderall to boost mental performance.
I’ve heard discussions about the usefulness of alternate states for different kinds of work, and hypomania is useful when I have a specific thing that I am already doing and willing to keep doing, but is too tiring for me to expect to finish in time. I saw a study that indicated people (neurotypicals, without a history of depression) are better at critical thinking when (mildly) depressed. This may be the case for me, but depression is way too severe for me to consider using it as a tool; regardless, I can’t coax my depressed self to do the simplest things, so I don’t know where the motivation would come from.
I feel super-energized sometimes, but I know that this is not a sustainable state, regardless of my wishes. My theory on it is that it takes up too much emotional energy to sustain such a period over an indefinite amount of time, so I finally get tired.
I know that I’m shamelessly generalizing from one example, but I don’t think that being Hypomanic is an option for him 100% of the time.
No, it’s not at all, and you’re not wrong to generalize in this case. For me, emotional energy is pretty boundless except as linked to physical energy, which eventually wears down. In one week of a hypomanic state I might run three marathons and sleep twelve hours. In my first drug-assisted state (I was originally put on paroxetine for depression, which apparently forces me into a hypomanic state) I slept three hours over a period of 10 days. That’s not sustainable!