this post was submitted on 28 Sep 2026
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[–] Apytele@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)

I mean yeah almost anybody can have a drug induced manic / psychotic episode (usually from stimulants), the threshold and how long it takes to get there and the eventual severity are just different for each person. Technically it's supposed to be a different diagnostic classification if it's drug induced vs organic but realistically psychiatrists will just slap 'schizoaffective' on pretty much any chart and call it a day.

As for inducing an episode... So what makes a mental health diagnosis a mental health diagnosis vs a normal neuro/behavioral variation is literally detriment / impairment to everyday living. So if you're inducing one you're accepting that even with, say, a hypomanic episode, there's some kind of detriment. Usually the main one is that the person becomes a huuuge asshole, but there's other stuff that can still even get the person committed, usually after royally fucking up their life and relationships.

Now, some people need that little extra dopamine for their brain to work right (ADHD). They're also risking mania / psychosis when taking stimulants but the risk is usually minimal at the doses they're taking and it's worth it for them to be able to hold down a job and keep up with self care tasks. You wouldn't want to risk it otherwise and there's a small subset of people with ADHD who are much more prone to mania / psychosis that can't take stimulants at all who have to take very specific combinations of other stuff.

TLDR everything has risks and benefits and that's such a narrow tightrope to walk for no reason and "what if I just microdose" are the famous last words of literally every meth addict ever.