Hypomania checklist: 12 signs to watch with data

This is a self-check, not a clinical test. The list below is loosely based on the same items the validated mania scales cover. The point is to give you a way to ask one question: is this week starting to look like the early days of one?

The validated scales it draws on are the Young Mania Rating Scale1978 and the Altman Self-Rating Mania Scale1997.

The 12 signs

Read each one. If it has been true for the past few days more than your usual baseline, mark it.

1. Sleep needs reduced. Sleeping less than usual without feeling tired.
2. Mood elevated. Feeling unusually upbeat, energetic, or expansive.
3. Self-confidence raised. Talking yourself into things you would normally hesitate on.
4. Thoughts speeding up. Ideas coming faster than you can act on them.
5. Speech faster or louder. Other people noticing before you do.
6. More plans, started in parallel. Several projects begun in a single week.
7. Goal-directed activity at night. Productive at hours you would normally be asleep.
8. Irritability rising. Sharper with people who normally do not bother you.
9. Spending or impulsive choices. Purchases or decisions you can justify in the moment but would not normally make.
10. Increased social drive. More texting, calling, reaching out, often at odd hours.
11. Increased sexual interest or risk-taking.
12. Less appetite for routine, more for novelty. Restlessness with the ordinary.

A useful prompt, not a scoring rule

A few signs at a low level can be normal variation — a good week. The combination worth bringing to your clinician usually includes:

• Several of the signs above showing up at the same time
• Sleep dropping for nights in a row
• Other people starting to notice

There is no universal "cross this line and call" rule. The point of the list is to make the cluster visible to you so you can have a specific conversation. Your clinician may have their own threshold for when they want to hear from you — ask them what it is.

Why sleep is the most reliable item

Sleep changes show up before the rest of the cluster — often by days, sometimes by a week2008. The sleep number is the hardest to lie to yourself about. It is also the one where a chart beats memory by the largest margin: "I think I've been sleeping less" is much weaker evidence than "four-hour, five-hour, four-hour, four-hour for the last week."

Why a daily log makes the checklist work

Reading the cluster of signs in real time is hard precisely because hypomania can feel like a good week. Smartphone-based self-monitoring works because it captures the cluster without depending on retrospective judgment2015.

A 0–3 elevation scale logged daily, alongside sleep hours and the items above as quick notes, lets you read the chart from outside yourself. The day you scroll back and see the cluster forming is the day you call.

When to pick up the phone

The crisis callout above is for the day you need help right now. For the non-emergency case, the call to your clinician is most useful when you can be specific — "I am seeing X, Y, and Z, sleep has dropped for N nights, and other people are noticing." The exact threshold for "call now" is one to set with the person treating you.

What the checklist is not

This is not the YMRS, the ASRM, or any validated instrument. It is a structured prompt for self-observation. If you want a real clinical score, ask your clinician — they have the validated tools and can interpret them in your context.