Hospitalizations were sometimes needed because of severe episodes of mania and psychosis, or suicidal depressions. Van Gogh created some of his best paintings from a sanitarium. There is even confusion in diagnoses, with some ADDers being incorrectly diagnosed with bipolar disorder. The relationship between these conditions is intriguing. This was a reoccurring topic on the Explorer mail group.
ADDers are definitely subject to more mood swings than the average bear.
Moods can change on a dime, within only a few minutes, so that an ADDer can go from low to high several times a day. Many, if not most ADDers I converse with also talk about going through days, or even weeks, of high energy and little sleep. Some say this occurs frequently when the ADDer is worked up about a project or something of interest. Sometimes ADD can look like manic depressive illness due to the high energy level involved in both syndromes. Manic-depressive illness is characterized by periodic momentous mood swings, from very high to very low.