Textmania: Text Messaging During the Manic Phase of Bipolar I Disorder

Advancements in modern technology have brought tremendous changes in human behavior. One such change is in modes of communication such as text messaging, or texting. This form of communication has emerged as one of the dominant modes of communication in the world. This report presents a differential pattern of texting seen during the manic episode of a young adult with bipolar I disorder. We observed all the DSM IV manic symptoms; interestingly the patient's predominant medium for communication was texting. The patient reported a dramatic increase in the quantity of both texting and sex-texting (or sexting) in addition to a decrease in quality of the message content. In addition, there was a substantial increase in the number of people with whom the patient engaged in simultaneous texting conversations. This case provides evidence for the need to consider non-traditional forms of communication when evaluating a patient's communication pattern during mania.