Dr Johnson from the University of California, Berkeley said: "Manic episodes are characterised by elevated mood as well as increased talkativeness, racing thoughts, decreased need for sleep and extreme distractibility. Mania has already been linked to a belief in the importance of achievement and so we wanted to discover whether it is also linked with higher expectations for the future."

The manic and depressive levels of 103 people including 27 people with diagnosed manic depression (also known as bipolar disorder), were assessed and compared with the results of questionnaires designed to assess their ambitious life goals, such as a desire for fame, material success or recognition. Participants rated the likelihood of various things happening to them, such as; ‘You will appear regularly on TV’, ‘You will have 20 million dollars or more’.

"We found that the people who had experienced episodes of mania during their lives had the highest expectations of achieving popular success and financial success. This pattern suggests that people with manic or bipolar tendencies are drawn to focus on success, money and popular fame."

"These results suggest that mania, along with all of its costs, may also drive people to set higher goals. In some cases they achieve them, giving us a glimpse into the advantages that can accompany this highly painful disorder," concluded Dr Johnson.

If you would like to assess whether you tend to set yourself implausibly high goals, you can take the test your self with the WASSUP (Willingly Approached Set of Statistically Unlikely Pursuits).

Source: BPS (Press Release)