What I Wish Consumers Understood About Mania

Based on my own journey with schizoaffective disorder and bipolar disorder, there are many things I wish consumers understood about mania.

Firstly, mania is not just feeling good. When people think of mania, they often think about the energy, confidence, creativity, excitement, and productivity that can accompany it. Those things are certainly part of the experience. During my manic episode, I felt alive, inspired, and capable of achieving almost anything. But mania is also impaired judgement, impulsivity, grandiosity, irritability, risk-taking, and loss of perspective. The enjoyable aspects of mania are often what make the dangerous aspects so difficult to recognise.

One of the most important lessons I have learned is that the highs come with consequences. While I enjoyed the excitement and productivity, my episode also cost me jobs, friendships, relationships, money, and months—if not years—of recovery. At the time, I focused on how good I felt. Looking back, I can clearly see the damage that was occurring around me. The challenge is learning to see the whole picture, not just the exciting parts.

Another difficult reality is that you may not realise how unwell you are. During my episode, my thoughts and beliefs felt completely logical. I believed I was making important discoveries and understanding the world in ways that others could not. When people expressed concern, I often thought they simply did not understand what I was experiencing.

If everyone around you is worried, it may be worth considering that they are seeing something you cannot see at the time.

I also wish consumers understood that recovery takes longer than the episode itself. My manic episode lasted only a few weeks, but the recovery process lasted years. Rebuilding relationships, restoring confidence, finding purpose, managing depression, and creating a new direction for my life all took far longer than the episode itself. Many people focus on surviving the mania. The truth is that rebuilding afterwards can be just as challenging.

Medication is another topic I wish people would think about more carefully. I will be honest—I miss some aspects of mania. I miss the excitement, the energy, the creativity, and the sense that anything is possible. Yet I have also learned that when I stop taking Lithium, the mood elevation gradually begins to return. For me, medication is not about taking something away. It is about preserving the life I have worked hard to rebuild.

I also wish consumers would pay attention to the warning signs. Looking back, my episode did not appear overnight. It was preceded by employment instability, increasing urgency, reduced sleep, spiritual preoccupation, grandiosity, and racing thoughts. The signs were there long before the crisis arrived. Many of us can learn to identify our own early warning signs and seek support before a full manic episode develops.

Perhaps most importantly, you are more than your diagnosis. I did not stop being Andrew Turtle when I received a diagnosis. I remained a writer, a researcher, an advocate, a brother, an uncle, a son, and a person with goals and aspirations. The diagnosis became part of my story, but it did not define the whole story.

Finally, I want consumers to know that something valuable can still emerge from recovery.

Not from the mania itself, but from how you respond to it. Many of my books, websites, advocacy projects, and writing initiatives emerged after my episode. Recovery became a process of rebuilding, reinventing, and creating a new direction for my life.

If there is one thing I wish consumers understood about mania, it is this: The things you love most about mania are often the very things that can hurt you the most. I loved the excitement, creativity, productivity, urgency, and sense of possibility. Yet those same qualities also contributed to impulsive decisions, damaged relationships, hospitalisation, and a long recovery journey.

That tension—the attraction and the consequences—is at the very heart of The Dialectics of Mania. The Dialectics of Mania explores these themes through my lived experience of mania, psychosis, hospitalisation, and recovery.