One thing that I am better at in a hypomanic state is interacting with people. I’m exciting (because I’m excited) and interesting (because I’m interested), and generally fun, funny and friendly. Normally, I avoid meeting people, and find long social interactions emotionally draining.
I bring this up because I’ve often heard this as a reason people drink. Some people become “people people” when intoxicated. Their relative weighing of the utility of personal interaction goes up, while the emotional cost to them might even change sign. This is the kind of thing that I meant; not impaired choices, but alternate choices. Again, maybe that doesn’t happen to you, but I assume you’re aware of the phenomenon.
Note: some people use alcohol to abate shyness; this isn’t what I mean. I mean changing the desirability of something, not just reducing barriers to get to it.
One thing that I am better at in a hypomanic state is interacting with people. I’m exciting (because I’m excited) and interesting (because I’m interested), and generally fun, funny and friendly. Normally, I avoid meeting people, and find long social interactions emotionally draining.
I bring this up because I’ve often heard this as a reason people drink. Some people become “people people” when intoxicated. Their relative weighing of the utility of personal interaction goes up, while the emotional cost to them might even change sign. This is the kind of thing that I meant; not impaired choices, but alternate choices. Again, maybe that doesn’t happen to you, but I assume you’re aware of the phenomenon.
Note: some people use alcohol to abate shyness; this isn’t what I mean. I mean changing the desirability of something, not just reducing barriers to get to it.