List of Manias A to Z — 190 Obsessions, Compulsions and Crazes

By Prof. Raju Vatsavayi

A mania, in the everyday sense of the word ending, is an excessive enthusiasm, urge or craze for something. This list gives 190 manias from A to Z with what each one is about and a short note on the term, from clinical conditions such as kleptomania and trichotillomania, through older psychiatric and dictionary words, to the crazes of history from tulip mania to Beatlemania.

Mania the illness and “-mania” the word ending

In psychiatry, mania on its own is a mood state: a period of extreme elevation, energy, racing thoughts and little need for sleep, the defining feature of bipolar I disorder, with hypomania its milder form. The word ending “-mania” is broader. Joined to a Greek root it names an excessive urge or fixation, as in kleptomania (stealing) or pyromania (fire-setting), both impulse-control disorders in DSM-5. Others match recognized conditions under modern names: trichotillomania is hair-pulling disorder, dermatillomania is skin-picking disorder and syllogomania is hoarding disorder.

Many more come from 19th-century psychiatry and have since been retired, such as monomania, lypemania (melancholy) and dipsomania (bouts of drinking). One, drapetomania, was never a condition at all: it was invented in 1851 to brand enslaved people who fled as ill, and the list keeps it only with that label. Every note opens with a label: Clinical (a diagnosis, mood state or documented behavior), Historical (older medical wording no longer used), Rare (an uncommon dictionary word), Nonclinical (an enthusiasm, hobby or craze) or Discredited. The opposite of a mania is often a phobia, and many pairs exist, such as xenomania and xenophobia.

Crazes, bubbles and fan frenzies

The same ending names collective crazes. Tulipomania was the Dutch tulip-bulb bubble of the 1630s and Railway Mania the British railway-share bubble of the 1840s. Victorian Britain had its pteridomania (ferns) and orchidomania (orchids), and audiences gave their names to Lisztomania in the 1840s and Beatlemania in the 1960s. There are 21 crazes, bubbles and fan frenzies in the table; typing “craze” in the search box lists most of them together.

Manias and the Obsessions They Name

No mania matches that search.

A

Mania	Obsession with	Notes
Ablutomania	washing or cleanliness	Rare. Compulsive washing, as seen in obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Aboulomania	making decisions	Historical. Severe, persistent indecision; not a separate modern diagnosis.
Acromania	(a state) extreme mental excitement	Historical. An older label for violent agitation; not an obsession with heights.
Acronymania	creating acronyms	Nonclinical.
Agromania	living alone in an isolated place	Rare. Also given as an intense urge to be out in open country.
Ailuromania	cats	Rare dictionary word.
Alcoholomania	alcohol	Historical. An older term for alcohol dependence.
Americomania	America and American culture	Nonclinical.
Andromania	sexual desire in women	Historical. An older synonym of nymphomania.
Anglomania	England, the English and English ways	Nonclinical. The 18th- and 19th-century enthusiasm for all things English; compare Anglophobia.
Anthomania	flowers	Nonclinical. Also florimania.
Aphrodisiomania	sexual matters	Historical. An older label for excessive sexual preoccupation.
Apimania	bees	Nonclinical dictionary word.
Arithmomania	counting	Clinical. Compulsive counting, a symptom seen in obsessive-compulsive disorder rather than a diagnosis of its own.
Automania	automobiles and motoring	Nonclinical. Also motormania.

B

Mania	Obsession with	Notes
Balletomania	ballet	Nonclinical.
Balloonomania	hot-air balloons	Nonclinical. The craze that followed the first balloon flights in France in 1783.
Beatlemania	the Beatles	Nonclinical. The fan frenzy around the band from 1963.
Bibliomania	collecting books	Nonclinical. Collecting books to excess; the word spread in the early 19th century. Ordinary book collecting is not a disorder.
Bruxomania	grinding the teeth	Historical. A dental term of 1907 for grinding while awake; now bruxism.

C

Mania	Obsession with	Notes
Cacodemonomania	being possessed by an evil spirit	Historical. A delusional conviction; also cacodemomania.
Catapedamania	jumping from high places	Rare. An older term for an impulse to jump; not a modern diagnosis.
Celtomania	Celtic peoples and culture	Nonclinical. A 19th-century enthusiasm, often tied to speculative history.
Chinamania	collecting china (porcelain)	Nonclinical. The 1870s craze for collecting porcelain.
Choreomania	dancing	Historical. The dancing plagues of medieval and early modern Europe, such as Strasbourg in 1518; also choromania and dancing mania.
Cleptomania	stealing	Historical. Older spelling of kleptomania.
Clinomania	staying in bed	Rare. An excessive desire to remain in bed; not a diagnosis by itself.
Cocainomania	cocaine	Historical. Cocaine addiction.
Collectomania	collecting things	Nonclinical. Not the same as hoarding disorder.
Copromania	feces	Rare.
Cynomania	dogs	Nonclinical dictionary word.
Cytheromania	sexual desire in women	Historical. An older synonym of nymphomania.

D

Mania	Obsession with	Notes
Dacnomania	biting oneself or others	Rare. Some word lists give killing instead; the biting sense is the better attested.
Demonomania	being possessed by demons	Historical. A delusional conviction of possession; some older sources use it for a fear of demons.
Dermatillomania	picking at the skin	Clinical. Excoriation (skin-picking) disorder, listed in DSM-5.
Dinomania	dinosaurs	Nonclinical. Some older word lists use the same spelling for dancing mania.
Dipsomania	alcohol	Historical. A 19th-century term for bouts of uncontrollable drinking; now alcohol use disorder.
Discomania	disco music	Nonclinical. The craze of the late 1970s.
Doramania	furs	Rare dictionary word.
Doromania	giving gifts	Rare. Distinct from doramania (furs); compare giftomania.
Drapetomania	(pseudoscience) the urge of enslaved people to flee	Discredited. Invented by the physician Samuel Cartwright in 1851 to cast escape from slavery as a disease; racist pseudoscience, never a real condition.
Dromomania	wandering or traveling	Historical. Compulsive wandering, studied in late-19th-century France; not ordinary wanderlust.

E

Mania	Obsession with	Notes
Ecdemomania	leaving home to travel	Rare. Overlaps dromomania.
Egomania	oneself	Nonclinical. Extreme self-absorption; not a personality-disorder diagnosis.
Egyptomania	ancient Egypt and Egyptian styles	Nonclinical. Waves of enthusiasm after Napoleon's campaign of 1798 and the opening of Tutankhamun's tomb in 1922.
Eleutheromania	freedom	Nonclinical. An intense longing for freedom.
Empleomania	holding public office	Historical. An excessive pursuit of government jobs.
Enosimania	having sinned	Historical. An excessive or delusional conviction of sin.
Entheomania	being divinely inspired	Historical. A delusional conviction; ordinary faith is not implied.
Epomania	writing epic poems	Rare. Literary.
Ergasiomania	working	Rare. An obsessive need to work; older sources also use it for a surgeon's eagerness to operate.
Ergomania	work	Nonclinical. Excessive devotion to work; compare workaholism.
Erotomania	the belief that someone, often of higher status, is in love with one	Clinical. A delusional presentation (de Clérambault syndrome); this is the modern meaning.
Etheromania	drinking or inhaling ether	Historical. Ether addiction, known in 19th-century Europe.
Ethnomania	one's own people or ethnic group	Rare. A sociocultural term for excessive devotion.
Eulogomania	giving praise	Rare.

F

Mania	Obsession with	Notes
Flagellomania	whipping or being whipped	Historical.
Florimania	flowers	Nonclinical. Also anthomania.
Francomania	France and French culture	Nonclinical. Also Gallomania.

G

Mania	Obsession with	Notes
Gallomania	France and French ways	Nonclinical. Also Francomania; compare Gallophobia.
Gamomania	proposing marriage	Rare. An urge to make proposals, often unsuitable ones.
Germanomania	Germany and German culture	Nonclinical. Also Teutomania.
Giftomania	giving gifts	Nonclinical. A humorous coinage for excessive generosity.
Gigantomania	building on a vast scale	Nonclinical. Used of architecture and art made huge for show.
Graecomania	Greece and Greek culture	Nonclinical. Also Grecomania and Hellenomania.
Graphomania	writing	Nonclinical. A compulsive urge to write.
Gynecomania	sexual matters involving women	Historical. An older term.

H

Mania	Obsession with	Notes
Habromania	(a state) cheerful or pleasant delusions	Historical.
Hagiomania	saints	Rare.
Haphemania	touching	Rare. A compulsive urge to touch things or people.
Hedonomania	pleasure	Rare dictionary word.
Hellenomania	Greek culture, language and people	Nonclinical. Also Graecomania.
Hematomania	blood	Rare. Also an older word for a craze for bloodletting.
Heroinomania	heroin	Historical. Heroin addiction.
Hexametromania	writing verse in hexameters	Rare. Literary.
Hieromania	religion	Historical. An older label for religious frenzy.
Hippomania	horses	Nonclinical.
Homicidal monomania	killing	Historical. A 19th-century legal and psychiatric concept used in murder trials; long abandoned.
Hydromania	water	Rare. Several older meanings, including a craving for water and an urge to drown oneself.
Hylomania	matter or materialism	Rare. A philosophical term.
Hypermania	(mood state) especially severe mania	Clinical. An uncommon expression, not a separate diagnosis.
Hypomania	(mood state) a milder form of mania	Clinical. A distinct period of raised energy and mood, as in bipolar II disorder.
Hysteromania	sexual desire in women	Historical. An older synonym of nymphomania.

I

Mania	Obsession with	Notes
Iconomania	icons or images	Rare.
Idolomania	idols	Rare. Older religious vocabulary.
Indomania	India and Indian culture	Nonclinical. Strong in 18th- and 19th-century European scholarship.
Infomania	information and messages	Nonclinical. Informal; compulsive checking of email and feeds.
Islomania	islands	Nonclinical. Popularized by the writer Lawrence Durrell.
Italomania	Italy and Italian culture	Nonclinical.

J

Mania	Obsession with	Notes
Japanomania	Japanese art and culture	Nonclinical. The late-19th-century craze in Europe; related to Japonisme.

K

Mania	Obsession with	Notes
Klazomania	shouting	Clinical. Compulsive shouting, reported after encephalitis and in other neurological cases.
Kleptomania	stealing	Clinical. An impulse-control disorder in DSM-5: stealing things not needed for use or value.
Klopemania	stealing	Historical. An older synonym of kleptomania.

L

Mania	Obsession with	Notes
Laughing mania	laughing	Historical. Outbreaks of contagious laughter, such as the Tanganyika laughter epidemic of 1962.
Letheomania	narcotic drugs	Rare dictionary word.
Lexicomania	words or dictionaries	Nonclinical.
Lisztomania	Franz Liszt	Nonclinical. The fan frenzy at Liszt's concerts in the 1840s; the name was coined by Heinrich Heine.
Logomania	words, or talking	Rare. Older senses include excessive talking (compare logorrhea); in fashion, showy logos.
Lottomania	lotteries	Nonclinical.
Ludomania	gambling	Clinical. A descriptive term; the standard diagnosis is gambling disorder.
Lypemania	sadness	Historical. A 19th-century term (Esquirol) for melancholy; now depression.

M

Mania	Obsession with	Notes
Macromania	things seeming too large	Historical. An older term for believing objects or body parts are abnormally large.
Mania	(mood state) extreme elevation of mood and energy	Clinical. A mood episode, the defining state of bipolar I disorder; distinct from the loose sense of a craze.
Megalomania	one's own greatness and power	Historical. Delusions of grandeur in older clinical use; everyday use means a lust for power.
Melomania	music	Nonclinical. Also musomania.
Methomania	alcohol	Historical. An older term for compulsive drinking.
Metromania	writing verse	Rare. Also used for a fixation on measurement.
Micromania	being small or worthless	Historical. A belief that oneself or a body part is shrinking; also extreme self-belittling.
Monomania	a single idea or object	Historical. A 19th-century diagnosis (Esquirol) of partial insanity fixed on one subject; now obsolete.
Morphinomania	morphine	Historical. Morphine addiction.
Musomania	music	Nonclinical. Also melomania.
Mythomania	lying or exaggerating	Clinical. Pathological lying (pseudologia fantastica); a description, not a separate diagnosis.

N

Mania	Obsession with	Notes
Narcomania	narcotic drugs	Historical. Compulsive drug use.
Necromania	death or dead bodies	Rare. Some dictionaries use it for necrophilia.
Nosomania	having a disease	Historical. An unfounded conviction of illness.
Nostomania	returning home	Rare. Intense homesickness.
Nymphomania	sexual desire in women	Historical. Obsolete and stigmatizing; now described as hypersexuality or compulsive sexual behavior.

O

Mania	Obsession with	Notes
Oenomania	wine	Historical. Also oinomania; an older sense was delirium tremens.
Oligomania	a few ideas	Historical. An obsolete class of disturbance limited to a few ideas.
Oniomania	shopping	Clinical. Compulsive buying; a description, not a separate DSM diagnosis.
Onomamania	names	Rare dictionary word.
Onomatomania	a particular word or name	Rare. An obsession with a word, described by Charcot and Magnan in 1885.
Onychotillomania	picking or pulling at the nails	Clinical. A documented body-focused repetitive behavior.
Opiomania	opium	Historical. Opium addiction.
Opsomania	one particular food	Rare. A craving for a single kind of food.
Orchidomania	orchids	Nonclinical. The Victorian orchid-collecting craze; also orchidelirium.

P

Mania	Obsession with	Notes
Paramania	complaining	Rare.
Parousiamania	the Second Coming of Christ	Rare. Religious.
Pathomania	(a state) so-called moral insanity	Historical. Tied to a discredited 19th-century classification.
Peotillomania	pulling at the penis	Rare. A medical term for a tic or compulsion.
Phagomania	eating	Rare. Not the same as any one eating disorder.
Phaneromania	picking at skin, nails or other body parts	Historical. An older umbrella term for picking behaviors.
Pharmacomania	taking medicines	Rare.
Phonomania	killing	Historical. An older term for homicidal mania; nothing to do with sound.
Photomania	light	Historical. Also used informally for a love of photography.
Phytomania	plants	Nonclinical.
Planomania	wandering away from home and duties	Historical. Overlaps dromomania.
Plutomania	money and wealth	Rare. Greed for wealth; older sources also use it for a delusion of being rich.
Pokémania	Pokémon	Nonclinical. The craze for the games and cards, about 1999 to 2000.
Polemomania	war	Rare.
Politicomania	politics	Nonclinical.
Polkamania	the polka	Nonclinical. The dance craze of the 1840s.
Polymania	(a state) disturbance of many faculties	Historical. An obsolete classification.
Poriomania	wandering away from home	Historical. Compare dromomania.
Pornomania	pornography	Nonclinical. A description, not a separate diagnosis.
Potichomania	decorating glass to look like porcelain	Nonclinical. A Victorian craze of the 1850s for lining glass vases with paper cutouts.
Potomania	drinking	Historical. An urge to drink alcohol; "beer potomania" is also a medical cause of low blood sodium.
Pottermania	the Harry Potter books and films	Nonclinical. The craze from the late 1990s.
Proditomania	being betrayed	Historical. A belief that others are plotting against one.
Pseudomania	lying	Rare. Also used for a state that only resembles mania.
Pteridomania	ferns	Nonclinical. The Victorian fern craze; the word was coined by Charles Kingsley in 1855.
Pyromania	setting fires	Clinical. An impulse-control disorder in DSM-5; not every act of arson is pyromania.

Q

Mania	Obsession with	Notes
Quantomania	counting and measuring	Nonclinical. A critic's word for overreliance on numbers.

R

Mania	Obsession with	Notes
Railway Mania	railway shares	Nonclinical. The British railway-investment bubble of the 1840s.
Retromania	retro styles and revivals	Nonclinical.
Rhinotillexomania	picking the nose	Clinical. A descriptive term for compulsive nose-picking.
Rinkomania	roller skating	Nonclinical. The skating-rink craze of the 1870s and 1880s.

S

Mania	Obsession with	Notes
Satyromania	sexual desire in men	Historical. Obsolete, also satyriasis; now hypersexuality.
Scribblemania	scribbling or writing	Rare. Also scribbleomania.
Sebastomania	religion	Historical. An older term for religious frenzy.
Sinatramania	Frank Sinatra	Nonclinical. The fan frenzy around the singer in the 1940s.
Sitomania	eating	Historical. An excessive drive to eat; also sitiomania. Not a food aversion.
Sophomania	one's own wisdom	Rare. The belief that one is exceptionally wise.
Squandermania	spending, especially of public money	Nonclinical. A political catchword for waste.
Stampomania	postage stamps	Nonclinical. Also timbromania.
Syllogomania	hoarding	Clinical. Compulsive hoarding; hoarding disorder in DSM-5.
Symbolomania	symbols	Rare.
Syphilomania	having syphilis	Historical. An unfounded conviction of infection.

T

Mania	Obsession with	Notes
Technomania	technology	Nonclinical.
Teutomania	German culture	Nonclinical. Also Teutonomania.
Thanatomania	death by a curse	Historical. The belief that a curse or spell dooms one to die; some lists give suicidal mania.
Theatromania	the theater	Nonclinical.
Theomania	the belief that one is God or divinely chosen	Historical. A religious delusion; ordinary faith is not implied.
Timbromania	postage stamps	Nonclinical. A 19th-century word for the stamp-collecting craze; also stampomania.
Tomomania	surgery	Rare. An urge to perform or undergo operations.
Toxicomania	poisons or drugs	Historical. From the French toxicomanie, drug addiction.
Trichodaganomania	biting one's own hair	Clinical. A rare, reported behavior; also trichodaknomania.
Trichomania	hair	Rare. An obsessive love of hair.
Trichoteiromania	rubbing or scratching the hair	Clinical. A rare, reported behavior that damages hair.
Trichotemnomania	cutting or shaving one's own hair	Clinical. A rare, reported behavior.
Trichotillomania	pulling out one's hair	Clinical. Hair-pulling disorder, listed in DSM-5.
Tristimania	sadness	Historical. A term of the American physician Benjamin Rush for melancholy.
Trudeaumania	Pierre Trudeau	Nonclinical. The wave of enthusiasm for the Canadian politician in 1968.
Tulipomania	tulips	Nonclinical. The Dutch tulip-bulb price bubble of the 1630s; also tulipmania.
Typhomania	(a state) fever delirium	Historical. Obsolete.
Typomania	getting one's writing printed	Rare. Also an enthusiasm for typography.

U

Mania	Obsession with	Notes
Uranomania	heavenly or divine matters	Rare.

V

Mania	Obsession with	Notes
Verbomania	words, or talking	Rare.

X

Mania	Obsession with	Notes
Xenomania	foreign things	Nonclinical. An enthusiasm for anything foreign; compare xenophobia.

Z

Mania	Obsession with	Notes
Zoomania	animals	Nonclinical dictionary word.

How mania names are built

The ending comes from the Greek mania, “madness” or “frenzy”, joined to a root for the object: kleptes (thief) gives kleptomania, pyr (fire) gives pyromania, biblion (book) gives bibliomania and thrix, trichos (hair) with tillein (to pull) gives trichotillomania. Modern crazes simply add the ending to a name, as in Beatlemania or Pokémania.

For the fears that mirror many of these words, see the List of Phobias.

Frequently asked questions

What is a mania?

In psychiatry, mania is a mood state of extreme elevation, energy and reduced need for sleep, the defining feature of bipolar I disorder. As a word ending, “-mania” means an excessive enthusiasm, compulsion or craze for something, as in kleptomania (stealing) or Beatlemania (the Beatles).

What is the difference between a mania and a phobia?

A phobia is an intense fear that drives a person away from something; a mania, in the suffix sense, is an excessive urge or enthusiasm that draws a person toward it. Many words pair up, such as Anglomania and Anglophobia, or xenomania and xenophobia.

Which manias are recognized clinical conditions?

Kleptomania and pyromania are impulse-control disorders in DSM-5, and trichotillomania (hair-pulling), dermatillomania (skin-picking) and syllogomania (hoarding) correspond to recognized disorders. Mania and hypomania are mood states in bipolar disorder; most other -mania words are older or informal terms.

What was tulip mania?

Tulipomania was the Dutch tulip-bulb price bubble of the 1630s, when single bulbs traded for very high sums before prices collapsed in 1637. It is often cited as one of the first recorded speculative bubbles.

What is the obsession with books called?

Bibliomania, an excessive passion for collecting books. The word spread in the early 19th century, when book collecting became a fashionable pursuit.

Why are some manias no longer used by doctors?

Many -mania labels, such as monomania, lypemania, dipsomania and nymphomania, come from 19th-century psychiatry and were replaced by modern diagnoses. Drapetomania was never a real condition; it was racist pseudoscience used to defend slavery.

GK Encyclopedia

Explore all general-knowledge topics and the A-to-Z lists.

List of Manias

Mania the illness and “-mania” the word ending

Crazes, bubbles and fan frenzies

Manias and the Obsessions They Name

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

Q

R

S

T

U

V

X

Z

How mania names are built

Frequently asked questions

We Value Your Opinion Comments