Mania

Mania is almost the opposite of depression in every way. Where the depressed individual is slowed down both mentally and physically, the manicky individual is speeded up. Where the depressive mood is dark and gloomy, the manic mood is bright and cheerful. Where the depressed person feels worthless and helpless, the manic individual feels superior and capable of doing anything. Where depressives feel that they have sunk to low ebb, manics feel like they are flying high. Where a depressed individual barely has enough energy to get out of bed in the morning, a manicky individual is running on high octane energy and does not even want to go to bed. Where depressives feel terribly pessimistic about the future and tend to dwell in the past, manics shrug off their yesterdays and are typically pie-in-the-sky optimistic about their plans for the future. Where a depressed person pulls away from involvements with his surroundings, the manic person rushes out into the world in search of exciting stimulation. Where the depressive yearns for dependent, supportive connection to an omnipotent-seeming other, the manic is exaggeratedly independent and feels possessed of the omnipotence that his opposite looks for in others. Where depressed individuals tend to be conforming and conservative, manic individuals tend to be flamboyantly non-conforming and big risk-takers. Where depressives are quiet and talk in a slow, halting tone of voice, manics tend to be loud and talk a mile a minute. What makes this all very interesting is that the same individuals are often depressed one day and manic the next.

From a psychodynamic point of view, this is because mania is a defensive reaction to depression. Much as some people are able to lift themselves out of depression by getting high on chemical substances, some people are able to pull out of depression by getting high on positive excitements, which they spend most of their time pursuing. Once they get the illusion of personal superiority and I-can-do-anything competence going, it tends to feed on itself, as it were. Because they carry themselves with such great confidence and keep their relationships very superficial, they impress and influence a lot of people and get a lot of applause, which further inflates their egos. However, they are similar to those who use chemicals to counter depression in that, while they do not need to keep taking more chemicals to stave off depression, they have to keep going faster and faster to keep depression from catching up to them. They've got to keep on truckin'. Eventually, they run out of steam; they tary longer than they should, and people start seeing through their hype; the illusory bubble bursts; and they are tumbled back down into depression.

What the depression and mania have in common is that they are both being driven by immature dependency needs. When the person is depressed, he is looking to others for their satisfaction. When he is manic, he is pretending--making-believe--that he has all that he needs within himself, or, if not, the competence to get it. The manic individual has been likened to a child getting caught up with playing at being a great, big, powerful, grown-up adult. When he gets carried away with the pretense, he may venture boldly out of his back yard and go skipping off down the street like he hasn't a fear in the world, but sooner or later, the illusion wears off, the child finds himself, still very much a child, far away from the security of home, and he turns tail and runs back home to get his emotional tank refilled--that is, if he hasn't gotten himself hopelessly lost.

This image attempts to symbolize some of this dynamic. The adult in the scene is floating high above the ground with a euphoric smile on his face. The feeling of personal omnipotence is symbolized by the power flash emanating from the fingers of his right hand. His need to impress others and his unrealistic, unworried self-confidence is symbolized by his scattering money to the wind (a frequent manic behavior). The exploding lights around his head signify the high energy, speeded up, bright-idea kind of thinking that manic's engage in. The Superman insignia on the adult's chest is another symbol of his feeling of personal superiority, invulnerability, and I-can-accomplish-anything competence. The grounded child walking beneath and behind is meant to symbolize the emotional child behind the illusion. He is making believe and having a grand old time thinking he is all grown up and able to do all of the powerful things that real grown-ups (as he sees them) can do. The child and his make-believe self are located near bright lights and exciting appeals. Both are temporarily distracted from and blithely unaware of the dark cloud of depression that is waiting just around the corner.