Listed Mania Words: “paramania” to “zoomania”,
Part 4 of 4.
Words may include: mania-, -mania, -maniac, -maniacal, -manic, -manically, and -maniacally for the various manias forms.
(Greek: 1. A specific mental disorder or obsessive preoccupation with something; madness, frenzy; obsession, or abnormal desire for or with something or someone.
2. Excessive enthusiasm or fondness for something).
If you would like to take self-scoring quizzes over many of the words in this subject area, then go to Mania Quizzes so you can see how much you know about the following (and other) “mania” words.
paramania:
An irresistible impulse to derive joy, or pleasure, from complaints.
paratereseomania or parateresiomania:
A compulsion to see new sights and places.
parousiamania:
An obsessive zeal or preoccupation with the second coming of Christ.
pathomania:
A morbid perversion of the natural feelings, affections, inclinations, and natural impulses without any remarkable disorder of the intellect; moral insanity.
peotillomania:
1. Pseudomasturbation.
2. A rarely used term for a nervous tic consisting of the constant pulling or the touching of one’s penis without masturbatory intention.
peromania:
A compulsion for mutilation or maiming.
petalomania:
An unusual multiplication of petals.
phagomania:
An insatiable craving for food, or an obsessive preoccupation with the subject of eating.
phaneromania:
1. An uncontrollable impulse to pick at a spot or growth on one’s body; the habit of picking at scabs, biting one’s nails, or picking pimples.
2. The constant preoccupation with some external part of the body, as plucking the beard, pulling the lobe of the ear, etc.
pharmacomania:
A craze for using or trying drugs; a chronic fascination with medicines.
philopatridomania:
1. An irresistible urge to stay home; homesickness.
2. A compulsion to return to one’s native land, as seen in prisoners of war.
phlebotomomania:
A compulsion for bloodletting as was once practiced by “medical” doctors who believed that most illnesses were caused by diseased blood and could only be cured by bleeding their patients; even if it killed them.
phonomania:
1. An obsession with noise or sounds.
2. Also defined as homicidal mania [where Greek phonos = murder]; an older term for homicidomania
photomania:
1. An irresistible craving for light or the sun (heliolatry).
2. A morbid or exaggerated desire for light.
3. Maniacal symptoms increased by the effect of light.
phrenomania:
Delirious mania.
phronemomania:
A compulsion to be thinking all the time.
phthisiomania:
An abnormal interest in tuberculosis; such as, an over concern that one might contract the disease.
phyllomania:
An abnormally excessive development of leaves.
phytomania:
A craze for collecting plants.
planomania:
1. A compulsion to wander.
2. The morbid impulse to leave home and discard many social restraints.
3. A strong desire, or urge, to live a life of simplicity free from social restraints or obligations.
plutomania, plutomaniac:
1. An insane love or pursuit of wealth.
2. A form of insanity in which the person imagines himself/herself possessing great wealth.
polemomania:
A compulsion for war.
politicomania:
A morbid or excessive interest in politics.
polyembolokoilamania:
A reference to children with Smith-Magenis syndrome, who have the bad habit of inserting foreign bodies into body orifices (usually into the ears).
polymania:
A mania affecting several mental faculties. Opposite of monomania.
poriomania:
1. An irresistible impulse to wander or journey away from one’s home.
2. An unmotivated, aimless desire to wander.
3. A pathological compulsion to journey from one place to another, whether consciously or without recall of the event.
pornographomania:
1. A compulsion to write obscene letters.
2. An abnormal interest in pornography.
pornomania:
A craze for pornography.
posiomania:
A compulsion to drink; especially, alcoholic liquids.
potichomania:
The craze for imitating Japanese or other porcelain by covering the inner surface of glass vessels, etc., with designs on paper or sheet gelatin; the process of doing this.
potomania:
A morbid craving for intoxicating drinks.
pototromania or pototromomania:
Delirium tremens (acute hallucinatory delirium, marked memory impairment, disorientation, and a course, generalized tremor).
pseudomania, pseudomaniac:
1. A mania for lying; an insane tendency to make false statements.
2. A symptom in which the patient accuses him/herself of having committed crimes of which he/she is really innocent.
pteridomania:
A mania or excessive enthusiasm for ferns.
pyromania, pyromaniac:
Insanity characterized by an impulse to set things on fire; a mania for incendiarism.
rhinotillomania:
Compulsive nose-picking as a common activity among adolescents. An incorrect-spelling version being used in some medical-psychiatric journals is rhinotillexomania; where exo is redundant since the Greek tillesthai apparently already means, “to pull out” (based on an older trichotillomania reference).
rhizomania:
An abnormal development of roots.
Russomania:
An excessive desire for Russian culture and related objects.
satyromania:
An abnormal, obsessive, uncontrollable, and insatiable sexual desire by men; usually a sexual lust for women.
schizomania:
1. A combination of a manic or major depressive syndrome.
2. A mixture of schizophrenia and manic symptoms.
scribbleomania or scribblemania:
A craze for scribbling.
scribomania:
1. An obsessive zeal for writing.
2. Writing a long succession of unconnected words.
sebastomania:
Religious psychosis.
selenomania:
Maniacal symptoms induced by moonlight.
siderodromomania:
An intense fascination with railroad travel.
sideromania:
An obsession with the heavens and what comes from them: such as, the elements, etc.
sitiomania:
A craze for food or certain kinds of food.
sitomania, sitomaniac:
The same as sitiomania. Bulimia; a morbid, voracious appetite.
sophomania:
1. An abnormal over estimation of one’s own wisdom.
2. A passion for grandiose statements about one’s own wisdom.
squandermania:
An insane desire or obsession to spend money recklessly or to waste assets.
stupemania:
Manic stupor.
strychninomania or strychnomania:
A mental aberration due to strychnine poisoning.
submania:
A mild form of some mania.
supermania:
An excessive form of mania.
symbolomania:
An excessive use of symbols or having symbolical meanings attached to one's acts or words.
symmetromania:
A compulsion to have symmetry; that is, a balanced and harmonious arrangement.
syphilomania:
A mental ailment in which a person believes himself/herself to be infected by syphilis. Insanity resulting from syphilophobia [fear of having syphilis].
technomania:
An obsession for all kinds of technology.
Teutonomania:
An overly enthusiastic desire for what is Teutonic or German.
thalassomania:
An intense fascination with or interest in the sea.
thanatomania:
1. An abnormal obsession with death or suicidal mania.
2. An illness or death resulting from a belief in the efficacy of magic, a phenomenon observed among those primitive societies, or illiterate and superstitious people; who believe in the power of evil spirits, spells, curses, and control over one’s bodily processes, with such belief and resulting fear manifesting itself as psychosomatic illness and even death.
theatromania:
An excessive fondness for going to the theater.
theomania, theomaniac:
A madness believed to be caused or inspired by God or an obsessive delusion that one is God.
thyroidomania:
A mental disorder associated with hyperthyroidism.
timbromania:
A mania for collecting postage stamps.
titillomania:
An uncontrollable compulsion to scratch.
tocomania:
The period of time and state of the mother following childbirth.
tomomania:
1. An unusual interest in surgery; that is, abnormal desires to have operations.
2. An irrational desire to use operative procedures by either a doctor or a patient.
toxicomania:
A morbid and intense craving for poisons.
trichomania:
An intense fascination with hair.
trichorrhexomania or trichokrystomania or trichomania:
An impulse to pinch off one’s hair.
trichotillomania:
A compulsive desire to pull out one’s own hair; pleasure, gratification, or relief when pulling out one’s hair. Sites of hair pulling may include any region of the body in which hair may grow with the most common areas being the scalp, eyebrows, and eyelashes. Stressful circumstances frequently cause increased hair-pulling behavior, but increased hair pulling also occurs in states of relaxation and distraction; such as, when watching television or reading a book.
tristemania or tristimania:
Melancholia [a major depressive condition such as feelings of painful dejection or an irritable mood] or extreme sadness.
troglomania, troglomaniac:
An abnormal desire to be in or to dwell in caves.
tromomania:
Delirium tremens [an acute hallucinatory delirium, marked memory impairment, disorientation, and a coarse, generalized tremor that involves particularly the fingers, face, and tongue].
Turkomania:
A rage for Turkish manners or customs; excessive favor of Turkish policy.
typhomania:
A muttering delirium characteristic of that in typhoid fever and typhus.
typomania:
1. A craze for seeing one’s writings or name in print; a craze for typology or symbolism.
2. A mania for writing for publication.
uranomania:
The delusion that one comes from celestial, or extraterrestrial, origins.
uteromania:
Nymphomania or insanity associated with uterine disorders.
verbomania, verbomaniac:
A compulsion for excessive use of words and for talking very fast; a psychotic flow of speech.
verbomania is a term in psychology that describes the condition of the person who never listens except when money talks.
verbomaniac refers to a person who always knows what to say but never when to stop saying it.
—Evan Esar
xenomania, xenomaniac:
An insane fancy for or obsessive interest in foreigners or for things foreign.
zoomania, zoomaniac:
A mania or insane fondness or craze for animals.
Quizzes
There are four sections of
mania words and five self-scoring quizzes are available so you can find out how many of these words you know.
Mania Quiz #1
Mania Quiz #2
Mania Quiz #3
Mania Quiz #4
Mania Quiz #5
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