Introverted vs extroverted (hypo)mania

Do you think (hypo)mania tends to manifest differently for introverts and extroverts? If so, what are the main differences you've noticed? I'm very introverted and I feel like my hypomania therefore tends to be more "inwardly directed" and more easily overlooked by others, if that makes sense.

I am generally a bit more inwardly directed than outwardly directed, but that doesn't mean I'm shy or don't enjoy being with people. When I'm hypomanic/manic I can really turn into the "Star of the Show", which to me usually means I'm coming across as exuberant, fun, and wonderful, but there can be a real mixed review from others. Even when I'm in that state, I still think I'm more focused on the inward even if I'm gallivanting all around the town or world.

Honestly, I think I've been having hypomanic episodes lately even though I've been getting normal amounts of sleep. I've started to look back on my past behaviors where I was, for months at a time, spending $3000-4000 A MONTH on random crap online. I had newfound "hobbies" that I was trying to get into, and I was buying some of the more premium products for what I actually needed. The items were all random crap, with most of them not interesting me anymore.

Nowadays, I spend like $300 a month in total (after paying rent, internet, and utilities) on necessities like groceries, cleaning supplies, hygiene products, etc., with occasionally some fun stuff I buy online.

I'm really reckless with money when my mood gets elevated, and sometimes I become reckless with driving as well (like going 95 mph or more on the highway).

I also get really chatty, I guess? I start talking to people and holding long winded, one-sided conversations. (Normally, I never approach people in real life. I am very reserved and introverted.) I can never tell when I'm boring people if my mood is elevated. I just keep talking and talking and talking, and never realize what other people think. I think I chewed another member's ears off the first time we met IRL a few years back. lol

Thank you, and I know what you mean about the mixed reviews. I am usually a real loner, but when I am hypomanic I get way more social and talkative. I also joke a lot and I feel this weird kind of love/affection for everyone. I've been told it's kind of like I'm drunk. Some people say they feel like they're finally getting to know "the real me," even though it's really more like the opposite. However, because I'm usually so introverted, I feel like "way more social" by my standards is still not as social as some of the more extroverted folks when they're manic, so I feel like it's easy for my Pdoc to overlook this aspect even though it feels very significant to me. Sorry if that doesn't make sense.



I definitely hear you on the spending, I'm prone to that myself. I'm glad to hear you seem to have it under control these days. Like you I also tend to develop lots of new hobbies and ideas for projects, and I really think I can pull it all off because I have so much more self-esteem. It has sometimes paid off, but many times I never finish those projects, or I take on obligations that I later regret and have to wiggle my way out of.


I'm ashamed to say I nearly caused an accident on the highway once because I was speeding. It was a close call and just luck that it didn't end badly. After that I was paranoid for weeks that the police would show up at my door. I'm still prone to driving recklessly when hypomanic, but I'm more aware of it now and I try to reel myself in when needed or let my wife drive instead. The spending still tends to get out of hand nearly every time. I tend to be very good at rationalizing why I really need to buy all that stuff. It's so easy nowadays with online shopping.

Yeah. What usually happens when I shop online is that I find something I like. Just a single item. Nothing more, nothing less. Then I see that the site has something like 10% off $50 or more. Then 15% off $75 or more. Then 20% off $150 or more. That's when I think, "wow, what a great deal I'm getting! I'm getting all these items for 20% off because I'm spending $150!!" I then start adding more and more s*** to my cart. I also then say to myself, "whoa, maybe I should get accessories with these items. Accessories would be soooooo cool!"

Sometimes I'll even be randomly browsing a site and then I see a "featured product." I'm like, "huh... what do we have here?" Then I'm like, "ohhh, this looks cool! I think I can turn this into a hobby!" Then I proceed to buy a bunch of items related to said "featured item," even though I have NO idea if I will like that type of product.

I've also been known to watch random YouTube videos (via "YouTube recommendations") and get inspired to buy things. Like, I may see a video where someone is like, "I'm gonna watch Tik Tok videos on my old iPad." Then I'm like, "I have an iPad. But wait... that looks like a NEWERRRRRR iPad than mine! I want a new iPad even though mine works perfectly fine!"

bleh. I'm bad at this...

@FluffyDinosaur: We have a lot in common! I also feel affection and fondness and love of all of humanity when i'm manic! People also say things like, "You're blossoming!" As if i am finally becoming The Real Me when as you said, the opposite is true. I also find that doctors tend to dismiss my manic behavior because it is not unusual for a healthy person to do those things. For example, i went away for a weekend to a Scrabble tournament and stayed in a nice hotel and another time i went to a pro-football game. See? Those are not really unusual behaviors for a healthy person but it was totally uncharacteristic for me as i am usually a real Debbie Downer and couch potato and recluse. I can see that it's not an issue of being destructive because i agree that those are benign activities, it's just that anyone who knows me over time would be astonished that i did them.

I get beautiful euphoric manias which people pay good money to experience what i get for free! It's just that i exhaust myself and crash into something negative, anxiety, frustration, rage. Last Fall it was even into a fear psychosis and that was so all sorts of awful for the first time i didn't even think the mania was worth it. I was on a Seroquel taper then tho and am back up to full-strength now so hopefully the fear psychosis won't happen again. I've had a religious psychosis three times now and that is bliss, my heart just expands and i feel joy, glory. So psychosis is not necessarily bad but can be torture and i have a healthy dread of it now.

I get the pressured spending too. Last Fall i ordered some furniture, a fancy upholstered chair and ottoman that had white fabric with black script on it just because i liked it and had seen a similar one on TV on "Revenge" that they referred to as their "Queen Chair." I didn't let the thought that i have no where to put such a large piece in my tiny 450 square foot apartment-condo deter me. Anyways, by the time the furniture arrived (several other pieces as well) i had settled down a bit and i sent it all back and it was a terrible ordeal with getting the return courier pages printed and hauling all the stuff to the drop-point. I wish i didn't get such a charge out of buying things because it's just rampant conditioning due to capitalism and i have a mass communications degree and should know better but there you go.

Anyways, i wrote a book so i'll stop there. It's Spring and i'm getting some signs that mania is imminent again. I'm not going to incite it this Spring tho since the recovery last Fall was so awful. Also with COVID-19 this year there are not many opportunities to ricochet around the city having adventures.

I'm an extreme introvert. I'm actually an isolationist. When I'm manic I have a total personality change. I don't think being an introvert has any effect on it. I'm just completely psychotic and a whirlwind. My psychiatrist tells me when I'm manic I'm actually one of his more "creative" patients. He says he has to stifle shaking his head at me sometimes.

Yeah, this sounds all too familiar. I also tend to be unable to moderate my purchases in the sense of getting just what I need for a new hobby. Instead I want the absolute top of the line product. For example I might decide that my new hobby is going to be astronomy and so I need a telescope. Rather than buying a simple one first and seeing if I like it I'll just go all out and buy a super expensive semi-professional one. Then the hypomania dies down and I lose interest, and I have this telescope just sitting around for a few years until I finally get rid of it. My wife tries to stop me but I can be very hard to control at times like that.

Thank you, it's good to hear I'm not the only one! I'm also usually a recluse, maybe not an outright misanthrope but I have schizoid personality disorder, so this kind of "love" and social behavior is really uncommon for me. When I was first diagnosed with bipolar I sometimes got a little frustrated that sources like the DSM assume very obvious extroverted behavior and (in my opinion) tend to overlook more subtle signs. Luckily my Pdoc was able to look past that.

I do hope you won't have to go through that again, although I must admit that I really like my euphoric hypomania too. Symptom-wise it has a lot of overlap with drugs like cocaine, so I guess it's no wonder that it's addictive.

Yeah, the fallout can be a pain to deal with. I've been known to do things like sign up for lessons in several different instruments at the same time, thinking I'll easily become a pro. It's painful and embarrassing to then have to go and cancel on everyone because you have neither the time nor the energy. I've also had to roll back big purchases.

Thank you, and it's interesting to hear that experiences differ so much. It sounds like maybe it's just a coincidence that my manic states tend to be more inwardly directed. Maybe it also has to do with the fact that historically my manias haven't been too extreme, they tend more toward the hypomanic end of the spectrum. I don't know how my personality would change beyond that.

I actually tend to be an introvert -though am very friendy, if that seems like a dichotomy- and a bit socially anxious, and yet when I'm hypomanic, all of that melts away. Or rather, flies away in a big, earthshattering burst.

I lose all social anxiety, I become very much an extrovert, I think I'm the most brilliant person in the world -and let others knows it, in some way or another- am hyperactive (including little needed sleep), hypersexual... I do a 360, I completely change.

Though when it turns to mania, the hyperactivity turns into the unbearable need to move and as if bugs were crawling all over me, the extroversion and hypersexuality turns dangerous, the delusions start to take me over.

So, to answer your question, no, I don't turn inward, I actually very much turn outward.

Thanks! I am definitely also a lot more open and less socially withdrawn when hypomanic, though I had mostly attributed that to increased self-esteem. However, I still don't feel the need to go to parties and such. I guess I tend to channel most of my increased self-esteem into intellectual pursuits, new hobbies, and the like.


I do, however, experience hypersexuality. For some reason I hadn't thought of that as extroverted behavior, but now that you mention it I definitely think it makes sense to view it as such.

Yep, I feel you on the premium products. I think this hobby is going to last forever, "so I might as well buy top of the line so that it lasts me decades!!!"

What a waste of money on my part.

Sometimes I even buy lots of used items off eBay or used book sites. Then of course I can't return the items... because they're used. I can try to resell on eBay or similar sites like Mercari, but doing that is just a real pain in the @ss.

The worst part of it all is that I have my credit card number MEMORIZED. I know the numbers, including the CVV number. I can try to pretend I lost my card to get a new number from my credit card company, but I mean... I'll just end up memorizing it again and I will be out $50 because that's how much it takes to replace a card these days.

I wish I knew a solution for you, but unfortunately, I don't. Just wanted to say that I feel you on this. I really do. It's difficult.

Yeah, I don't know of a solution either. Sometimes after a few hypomanic cycles I come back to the same hobby and I use the stuff I bought again, I suppose that's something at least. In any case, thanks for your replies, it's good to know that others have similar experiences.

---I have a similar experience. I found your "mixed reviews from others" so funny because I know the feeling. It's the "legend in my own mind" syndrome!
Love the way you described this! Thanks, BirdDancer.