Mind & EmotionGreek → English
Hypomania
/ˌhaɪpoʊˈmeɪniə/noun
A period of elevated mood, drive and activity that falls short of full mania and does not require hospital care.
The Greek roots
ὑπό
hypó
under, below
μανία
manía
madness, frenzy
Literally: “under-madness”
The story of the word
Under-madness, literally. Emanuel Mendel proposed the term in 1881 for a state that is fast, productive and socially plausible, which is precisely why it slips past everyone. Patients seldom report it as a problem, because from the inside it feels like the good version of themselves, and that is a large part of why bipolar II goes unrecognised for years.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → scientific coinage → English
- First recorded
- 1880s
Same family
maniahypothermiahypothesismaniac
In a sentence
In hypomania he answered every email at four in the morning and called it discipline.