As a person with bipolar disorder, I am aware that certain things can trigger my mania.
One of these things is being around an extremely manic person. For instance, at support groups, where there might be several people experiencing mania, I myself get “high.” This is one reason I don’t do support groups.
I also have an unmedicated, manic friend who sets my mania off. I can’t be around her for very long.
I’m calling this phenomenon “Contact Mania Buzz,” but there’s probably a much fancier name for it.
Contact Mania Buzz reminds me of something that happens in prisons. If one person in his cell starts making a commotion, screaming and banging around, it can trigger the other people in their cells to start to overheat. Pandemonium can break out. For this reasons, prisons like to keep everyone calm, so as not to start a chain reaction of “energetic” behavior.
I don’t know what is at the base of this phenomenon, whether it’s chemical or what. But I know it’s not coincidence.
Manic people scramble my brain. I begin to talk fast like them. Everything can become hilarious. And before I know it, I’ve gotten a Contact Mania Buzz. It can take me hours or even days to come down.
Does this happen to you?