Mania & Hypomania: Why the Brain «Can’t Brake in Time» — the Method’s View

When we speak of mania and hypomania, what matters is not «what’s wrong with the person» but why their brain works the way it does. The doctor’s method looks at the cause on several levels at once: genetics, the neurochemistry of synapses, the environment a person grew up in, and how all of this becomes «a foundation for the rest of life».

Genetics and environment: a spiral that unwinds

Often it starts with a genetic predisposition. But if a child lives in a family of «divorces, fights, drinking, abuse», where there was never «order, understanding, discipline», this environment triggers the genetics already in place. From there it goes «in a spiral»: home gets worse and worse, and this strikes the most precious thing — healthy neuroplasticity.

«It instantly destroys our normal neuroplasticity.»

Neuroplasticity then «goes off distorted», and it is this that later forms the base of all of life.

Neurochemistry: what’s «missing in the synapses»

The method names the biology directly: «this is genetically determined, the problem is a shortage in the neuronal synapses — a lack of dopamine, norepinephrine, serotonin limping a bit». It especially notes a problem with dopamine receptors. So impulsivity and the inability to «brake» are not upbringing or laziness — they are neurochemistry.

The «default system»: a person not yet fully «awake»

A key idea of the method is two systems of brain operation. There is the «default system» (the background one that works in sleep, processing dreams), and there is full engagement «in life».

When we sleep, the motor function is off. When fully awake — it’s on «a thousand percent». And there is an in-between state, when consciousness has switched on but motor function hasn’t yet. The method compares hyperactivity and impulsivity precisely to a person who is «not yet fully awake»: the background system dictates behaviour, and the person clings to every stimulus.

«He can’t sit still because he hasn’t woken up yet.»

For such a brain, holding attention by effort is enormous discomfort.

Short-term memory and executive function

The method links impulsivity to short-term memory. It is this memory that switches on when a person «wakes up into life». If it has «crashed», executive function suffers: counting, adding in your head, organization, planning. Planning is «when we see, arrange, sort through»: first information enters short-term memory, there it is laid out, analysed, compared. Without this mechanism there is neither organization nor planning, and behaviour becomes impulsive.

The frontal lobe and the «pause between stimulus and response»

An impulse arrives as a stimulus — and the «default system» reacts immediately, without delay. A person cannot hold the impulse back because the problem is in the frontal part of the brain and in a shortage of neurotransmitters. Here the method gives an important measure of maturity:

«The greater the time between stimulus and response, the more intelligent and capable the person is.»

A strong stimulus «switches the brain on», the executive system fires up — and the person performs action after action. Over time impulsivity grows and shows itself in actions: rash purchases, loans, gambling, the risk of substance dependence.

Practice: a «lengthen the pause» checklist

From the method’s own logic — gentle work with that very gap between stimulus and response:

1. Notice a strong stimulus — the moment the brain «switches on» and you want to act right away.
2. Don’t make remarks or blame (yourself or a child): the method stresses this is «pure neurochemistry» and genetics.
3. Consciously lengthen the pause between impulse and action — the length of this pause is the point of growth.
4. Help «wake up into life»: shift attention out of the background state into a concrete action here and now.
5. Remember short-term memory: break tasks into small steps, don’t demand holding it all «in the head at once».

Why this is worth understanding

The method warns: lectures, scolding, «forced learning» under such neurochemistry «simply torment the person» and don’t work. Without understanding the causes, a person may arrive by 18–25 already with «a whole bouquet» of co-occurring disorders. To grasp «why it happens» is to stop blaming and start looking at neurochemistry and environment.