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Mania

Current Research

Currently, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Text Revision, 4th edition (DSM-IVTR) has no separate diagnostic disorder called mania or manic disorder. The DSM-IV-TR is the official psychiatric classification system for medical and legal uses in the United States. Over the years, psychiatrists and psychologists have questioned whether mania is experienced without depressive episodes and thus whether it is a disorder distinct from bipolar disorder. Some recent research looking at this indicates that it the concept of mania as a distinct disorder merits further investigation. Neuroimaging techniques allowing visualization of the functioning brain have enabled further distinctions between psychiatric disorders based on underlying differences in brain structure, and hold promise for research in bipolar disorder and mania.

See also Manic depression.


Resources

Books

Andreason, N.C., and D.W. Black. Introductory Textbook of Psychiatry. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Press, Inc. 1991.

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. 4th ed. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association, 1994.

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders: DSM IV-TR. 4th ed., text revision. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association, 2000.

Jefferson, James W., and John H. Greist. Lithium and Manic Depression: A Guide. Madison, WI: Madison Institute of Medicine, 1999.

Kaplan, H.I., and B.J. Sadock. Comprehensive Textbook of Psychiatry. 6th ed. Baltimore: Williams and Wilkins, 1995.

Periodicals

Hyman, S.E. "The Genetics of Mental Illness: Implications for Practice." Bulletin of the World Health Organization 78 (April 2000): 455-463.


Marie Doorey

KEY TERMS

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Antipsychotic drugs

—These drugs, also called neuroleptics, seem to block the uptake of dopamine in the brain. They help to reduce psychotic symptoms across a number of mental illnesses.

Bipolar disorder

—A psychiatric disorder in which individuals experience alternating states of mania and depression, it is often referred to as manic-depressive disorder.

Delusions

—Fixed, false beliefs that are resistant to reason or factual disproof.

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT)

—Administration of a low dose electric current to the head in conjunction with muscle relaxants to produce convulsions. A treatment method whose underlying action is still not fully understood, it has proven effective in relieving symptoms of some severe psychiatric disorders for which no other treatment has been effective, for example, severe depression.

Neuroimaging techniques

—High technology methods that enable visualization of the brain without surgery such as computed tomography (CT), and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

Neurotransmitters

—Biochemical substances that transmit nerve impulses between nerve cells.

Psychotherapy

—A broad term that usually refers to interpersonal verbal treatment of disease or disorder that addresses psychological and social factors.

Additional topics

Science EncyclopediaScience & Philosophy: Macrofauna to MathematicsMania - Symptoms, Course, Causality, Treatment, Current Research