Watching someone struggle with manic symptoms and/or anxiety and attempting to help her feel safe and grounded can be a challenge. …..while waiting the few days it can take for meds to begin their work. Simply listening can be helpful. Attentive supportive presence, quiet activities and distraction can help. I remember the feeling and the kind people who were there for me once upon a time. Essential oils aroma therapy, teaching deep breathing technique, listening to soothing music, experiencing a peaceful ride through a country area, talking about loved ones from the past….some of the gentle self-care options that can be employed to help. “Sensory grounding” is a way of talking about things around the person that can help her connect with reality when her brain is pinging all over the place.
“Mania- Mania is an abnormally elated mental state, typically characterized by feelings of euphoria, lack of inhibitions, racing thoughts, diminished need for sleep, talkativeness, risk taking, and irritability. In extreme cases, mania can induce hallucinations and other psychotic symptoms.
Mania typically occurs as a symptom of bipolar disorder (a mood disorder characterized by both manic and depressive episodes). Individuals experiencing a manic episode often have feelings of self-importance, elation, talkativeness, sociability, and a desire to embark on goal-oriented activities, coupled with the less desirable characteristics of irritability, impatience, impulsiveness, hyperactivity, and a decreased need for sleep. (Note: Hypomania is a term applied to a condition resembling mania. It is characterized by persistent or elevated expansive mood, hyperactivity, inflated self esteem, etc., but of less intensity than mania.) Severe mania may have psychotic features.
Mania can be induced by the use or abuse of stimulant drugs such as cocaine and amphetamines. It is also the predominant feature of bipolar disorder, or manic depression, an affective mental illness that causes radical emotional changes and mood swings.
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV), the diagnostic standard for mental health professionals in the U.S., describes a manic episode as an abnormally elevated mood lasting at least one week that is distinguished by at least three of the following symptoms: inflated self-esteem, decreased need for sleep, talkativeness, racing thoughts, distractibility, increase in goal-directed activity, or excessive involvement in pleasurable activities that have a high potential for painful consequences. If the mood of the patient is irritable and not elevated, four of these symptoms are required.” http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/mania
I feel badly for women with manic symptoms who are in the company of people who lack the training and mercy to recognize it and know how to help them. They may be mocked, emotionally abused, told they are “crazy” and dismissed. Worse still, they may be told they are “possessed” and viewed with suspicion and fear by others or subjected to methods of “exorcism” or “deliverance” that can traumatize them further or cause them shame and more fear. They can become paranoid, thinking people are going to “lock them up” and feel trapped.